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(^UAAAtJL.(\AJ' QxluUj^ ^tf^^yy^,^ 



FORTY YEARS 



BURPEE SERVICE 




FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT 
isro — IQie 



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Forty Years of Burpee Service — A nn i versa ry S u pp le m en t 

A Few Words from the Founder S 

To My Friends, Our Customers: — 

times that ever were. 



Forty years is a long 
time, especially when 
it's the forty that sepa- 
rates a boy of IS from a 
man of 58. A boy of 18 
who was thrilled with the wonders of 
the Centennial Exhibition, full of en- 
thusiasm, he was just beginning to 
appreciate that working with the soil 
is the biggest work that can be done. 

And of all the forty years that ever 
have come and gone, these marking the 
growth of that boy's business from a 
mere handful of orders to the largest 
mail-order trade in seeds have been the 
most wonderful. 

Think of it, my friends, — when the 
doors of our business were first opened, 
electric lights were a rarity and tele- 
phones not yet in general use. No one 
had thought of an electric street-car 
and the snap-shot camera was un- 
known. The largest steamship then 
crossing the Atlantic could be easily 
carried on top of most any average 
liner to-day, and the first successful 
automobile was not to appear until 
fifteen years later. 

If any one had talked about such a 
thing as wireless telegraphy we'd have 
thought him crazy, and the idea of 
being able to "can" talk and singing 
in a machine so as to unwind it at 
will would have marked a man as a fool. 
There were balloons, of course, but no 
airships. And there were no Bush 
Limas, and no Golden Bantam corn! 

Indeed, when we look back over the 
last two-score years we may say we 
have lived in the most wonderful 



It has been a period of 
unprecedented progress 
in all lines — and this is 
si)ecially true of the seed 
l)usiness. Forty years ago the boy 
who is now writing these words to 
his friends throughout the best country 
on earth had a few ideas as to what 
might be done in the way of bettering 
the seed business. Some of these have 
l)een proved good and others have been 
dropped as impractical. As time went 
on, however, he began to think the 
very best thing he could do was to 
plant RELIABILITY in folks' gardens. 

That's what we need, after all, isn't it ? 

The reliable helper is the one we want 
around. The reliable merchant is the 
man we want to deal with. The re- 
liable horse is the best in the stable, 
even if he isn't the handsomest or 
fastest. But this boy, as he grew 
older, kept on working 
for reliability in seeds. 
Of course, he wanted to 
produce and send out to 
his customers as good 
seeds as could be got, 
but no seed is as good 
as it should be until it is 
reliable. So he made 
RELIABILITY liis first aim, 
and that flag never has 
l)een taken down. It 
has meant a good deal of work, a 
good many disappointments and fail- 
ures — this forty years of working up 
to our present standard — and we have 
not yet reached our aim. Progress is 
still our watchword. Every planter 




Where we began 
in 1876 



[1 



HHHP 
r illlll 



who reads this — whether of a flower- 
bed or a fifty-acre field — knows how 
discouragement dogs a fellow once in a 
while and how it takes nerve and grit 
to face the music sometimes. 

But if life 
went along 
like a song, 
we'd make 
mightylittle 
progress, 
my friends. 
You can't 
sharpen a 
knife on a 
hunk of 
clay. It 
takes a sur- 
face harder 
t h a n t h e 
steel to give 
an edge. 




Fifth Street Frontage of the 

First Burpee Building 

Erected in 1898 



SI o w 1 y 
we've worked toward that one end of 
providing seeds that grow, of the 
best possible cjuality. From the first 
we've thought it only fair to our cus- 
tomers to keep our eyes wide open 
for every l)etter thing that comes along. 
But I want you to know that this is 



not a one-sided business. No busi- 
ness of mutual service is that. 
We couldn't have done what we have 
without the wade patronage and loyal 
support of our friends and customers. 
x\nd this is appreciated. 
It is the thing that has kept us on 
the alert for every seed-benefit that 
might be passed along. It's what has 
bound us all together in a sort of big 
family, working to make the soil pro- 
duce better and more fully, and to cut 
out the waste of comparatively worth- 
less varieties and reduce work to a 
minimum. 

As we gather around the fireside on 
this fortieth anniversary, I want each 
of you to know that in a sense you're 
a partner in this business — for -a part- 
ner is one who shares the profits. And 
that you may keep on sharing the 
profits of the best care and thought 
we can put into our work is the sincere 
wish of 
Your friend. 




The above article, while signed by W. Atlee Burpee, is a 
contribution from the pen of our friend, Leigh Mitchell 
Hodges, The Optimist, of the Philadelphia \orih AmericaH. 




Entrance to Main Office at 485 North Fifth Street Jr 

[2(0;ci,A417524 
JAN -3 1916 ^,. 




York Avt'niji- :in<l Huttonwooii Street frontage of the Main Burpee Buildings, Philadelphia, owned and exclusively 
occupied by us. Two other Ijuildiiigs to the south (including a double warehouse on York Avenue) are not shown in this 
illustration. The entrance to othces is now at 485 North Fifth Street. Our new "Daylight Addition" alone has forty- 
two windows on each floor exclusive of doors and transoms. The first Burpee Building (seven stories) was erected in 
1898 upon the site occupied by us since 188'^ 





The entrance to Fordhook Farms on Upper State Koad, niie-fimrtli mile from Doylestown 





ILmlia;^ lu oa'-= al TurdliMok 



The Collies' couiiiiissary 



[5] 



Forty Years of Burpee Service — ^x\ n n i v e r s a r y Supplement 




Flowers and Fruits 



Eight hundred years before 
Christ a man on the phiins 
of Assyria wrote this proph- 
ecy: "And the desert shall 
bloom like the rose, and the 
waste places shall be made 
liTcen, and there shall be no 
lion there, nor any ravenous 
beast, but sorrow and sighing 
shall flee away." Twenty-seven hundred years 
have come and gone since that prophecy was 
written, but now the dream is coming true. 

Never in all history has there been such an 
interest in gardening as there is today. And 
we are gardening not only for the sake of the 
fruits and flowers, l)ut because we wish to raise 
better men and better women. 

Man is a product of soil and climate — plus 
a few other things. 

I do not pretend to know just exactly what 
a man is, but I know we are well, happy and 
sane only when we are in close touch with the 
soil. 

Isaiah, who wrote the prophecy cjuoted above, 
was a farmer and a shepherd. 

Five hundred years separate Isaiah and 
Aristotle. Aristotle was the world's first 
naturalist. Eusebius calls him Nature's Private 
Secretary. He wrote on the subjects of trees, 
flowers, vegetables, fruits, bees and birds. 
Aristotle named things, and the names of many 
of his plants and flowers aie the classic bo- 
tanical names by which they are known today. 
In one of his cs.says Aristotle says this: "I 
have noticed that land that produces beautiful 
flowers and luscious fruits, also produces a 
very excellent, intelligent and able cl^ss of men 
and women." Aristotle seemed to look upon 
this as a sort of coin- 
cidence, but later in 9" the way t.. the farm house y. 
,.» ■ ]. ] ii 1. farm house, more than IJo years 

llie lie discovered that ^^^^^-^ protecti,.n. ."ks the Farm 
instead of being a records and is the seat 

coincidence it was a 
sequence. 

We educate our- 
selves through our 
work. Men are strong 
only as they lay hold 
on the forces of 
Nature. 

Man is a product 
of Nature, just as 
much as is the tree or 
the flower. Life is an 
expression of energy 
— this energy takes 
the form of a man, 
and the same energy, 
under dift'erent con- 
ditions, evolves into 
a tree. Thus do we 





say with Aristotle that man 
is a brother to the tree. 

The world's second great 
naturalist was Pliny the Elder, 
who was a soldier, but who, 
on his various expeditions and 
marches, seemed to pay more 
attention to the manifesta- 
tions of Nature than to the 
doings of the enemy. Pliny the Younger is 
known for only one thing, and that is, that he 
wrote the life of his uncle. After a man is 
dead he is no greater than his biographer. 

Pliny the Younger must have been a great 
man, otherwise he would not have been able 
to apjireciate the genius of Pliny the Elder. 

For ujiward of forty years Pliny the Elder 
made \ery close observations of the living 
things tliat he found on his travels. Flowers, 
birds, bees, animals, the clouds, the wind, the 
rain — all these things interested him. Some of 
his remarks today sound rather unscientific; 
ne\'ertlieless, through it all there is a reverence 
for Nature, and an earnest, sincere love of the 
out-of-doors that commands our respect. 

THE EDUCATED MAN 

Herbert Spencer says that the world has 
produced only six educated men. That is to 
say, there have been six men who were so in- 
(•(^mparably beyond the rest of mankind that 
they form a class by themselves. 

Then Herbert Spencer goes on to say that 
these men are great simply because they were 
lovers of Nature, and had an understanding 
of Nature in her manifold moods that the 
average man does not possess. 

First in the list, Herbert Spencer puts .Aris- 
totle; .second, Pliny 

lU pass the original Fordhook the EI (1 C r ; third, 
old. Now as then it is Ford- i „,,. i i.. A'.'.,,.; 
Office it houses the Fordhook l>t^«>n«rtl" <1:' \ m 'l- 

f farm operations Lconaixlo has been 

called the best all- 
roiuitl developed man 
that the world has 
ever seen. Leonardo 
was a horseman, an 
artist, an architect, 
an engineer, a farmer 
and a gardener. 

He lived at that 
wonderful time which 
Me know as the year 
Fourteen Hundred 
Ninety-two. 

At that time the 
business of farming 
and gardening was at 
a very low ebb. It 
conies to us with a 
dash of surprise that 



' Flowers and Fruits," written by Elbert Hubbard and here reproduced, is from " The Fra" of March, 1914. 



the raising of flowers as a business, or even for 
purposes of recreation and pleasure, was un- 
known in England until about the year Seven- 
teen Hundred Fifty. 

Lecky, the Irish historian, gives one man 
credit for what is called "The Great Awaken- 
ing in England." 



to his pottery. He is small and lame, but his 
soul is near to God." 

The man John AVesley referred to was Josiah 
Wedgwood, founder of Etruria, and manu- 
facturer of the famous Wedgwood ware that is 
still being made by the third generation in the 
factory founded 1)V this marvelous man. 




fn Entrances to Hurpee 



t'orilhiidk tarm-i. When you jnurnry to 1' 
farm l)y this j;ate 



This man was John Wesley, who for fifty 
years rode through Great Britain from Lands 
End to John OXinjats, prenchiiig on tavern- 
steps, in graveyards, by the roadside, at fairs, 
wherever any one would listen. 

John Wesley was the inspirer and the teacher 
of the plain, every-day people. He pleaded 
for temperance, for industry, for economy, 
and his whole argiunent was that religion was 
a form of commonsense. 

He believed in bringing about Paradise here 
and now. 

Accidentally, he foimdcd a religious denomi- 
nation, but this was not his primary intent. 

Lecky himself was a freethinker — some people 
called him an infidel — and so what he says 
about John Wesley can be taken as eminently 
unprejudiced and judicial. 

The Great Awakening was a wave of emotion 
that culminated in America in Seventeen 
Hundred Seventy-six. 

In the diary of John Wesley, a voluminous 
book published in England some years ago, but 
now practically forgotten, I once foimd these 
words: "Preached at Rurslem, a town of potters. 
The people are poor, ignorant and often brutal. 
Here I met a young man by the name of \\'edg- 
wootl who had planted a flower-garden adjacent 



Julia Wedgwood, a daughter of Josiah, wrote 
a life of John Wesley. 

Josiah \\edgwood has been called the world's 
first modern businessman; that is, he was the 
first man to introduce factory betterments and 
to pay special attention to the idea of beauty. 
His factory was surroimded by am|)le space, so 
as to insure proper light and ventilation. Also, 
he had flowerlieds and an extensive garden, 
where many of his people worked at odd hoiu's. 
Josiah Wedg\vood gave prizes for the best 
gardens and for the most beautiful back-yards; 
and this, please remember, was nearly a himdred 
years ago. Wedgwood attempted to do for 
England, in the line of gardening, what John 
H. Patterson has done f<ir .Viiierica. 

I nfortun:itely, the times were not ripe for 
Wedgwood's ideas as to fact(;ry building and 
factory sin-roimdings; nevertheless, he left his 
mark upon the times. 

One thing sure, he influenced profoimdly 
another great businessman, Robert Owen, who, 
in degree, followed the Wedgw(M)d idea and 
endeavored to make his factory not only a 
place for manufactiu-ing things, but a place 
where men and women would evolve and grow 
and become. Robert Owen's factory was also 
a school. A product of Robert Owen's factory 



:7] 



idea was John Tyndall, the scientist, known 
to the world as one of the " big five." The other 
four are Herbert Spencer, Thomas Huxley, 
Alfred Russel ^^"allace and Charles Darwin. 
And a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood was the 
mother of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin's 
book. The Origin of Species, has influenced 



say. But in any event, John Wesley fully 
believed that there was no dividing-line between 
beauty and gooflness. We used to regard the 
businessman as one who took advantage of the 
needs of the people. Rut this idea is obsolete. 
The businessman today is the friend of his cus- 
tomer. "Truth, "' says Doctor Charles W. F^liot, 




I'hi- Cott.age " at Fordhook Farms, just inside the western gate 



this drive — 



the world more profoundly than any other 
book issued within three hundred years. But 
in this year of grace. Nineteen Hundred Four- 
teen, the ideas of Aristotle, Pliny, Leonardo. 
John Wesley, Josiah ^^'edgwood and Robert 
Owen are to be found in many towns, villages 
and cities of the United States and Europe. 

For instance, the Oregon plan of teaching 
gardening in every public school is a literal 
following out of the suggestions of Aristotle. 
Wedgwood and Robert Owen were business- 
men, and never claimed to be anything else. 

liusiness is supplying human wants. It is 
carrying things from where they are plentiful 
to where they are needed. Business is hinnan 
service, and the good businessman today is 
essentially a public servant. 

THE BUSINESSMAN 

John Wesley always carried in his saddlebags 
packages of flower-seeds. He would distribute 
these seeds judiciously among his friends along 
the route he traveled. He would explain how 
to plant the seeds, and how to care for the 
flowers, and then he would tell his friends that 
he would be liack that way in a year and see 
how these flowers flouiished. In this particular 
tiling of distributing flower-seeds, John Wesley 
worked a big evolution and revolution. Per- 
haps his flower-seeds did England as much 
good as his preaching, but this is not for us to 



" is the new virtue." Businessmen tell the 
truth, for the best possible reason, and that is 
IxK'ause it pays. The word "commercialism" 
is no longer used as an epithet. The business of 
distributing flower-seeds is not left now to the 
philanthropist, the preacher and the reformer; 
it is on a business basis. 

THE HOUSE OF BURPEE 

The one man in America who distril)utes more 
flower-seeds direct to planters than any other 
one man is W. Atlee Burpee of Philadclpliia. 
Mr. Burpee will never be President of the 
I'nited States, because he was born in Sheffield, 
New Brunswick. When the young man was 
three years of age he persuaded his parents to 
move to Philadelphia. 

AV. Atlee's father. Doctor David Burpee, 
desired to marry the daughter of his preceptor. 
Doctor AAashington L. Atlee, the noted sur- 
geon, and to get the consent of the girl's parents 
had to promise to mo\'e from Canada to Phila- 
delphia within five or six years. The name 
Biu'pee was formerly Beaupre. The Beaupres 
were Huguenots, a splendid folk, sort of first 
cousin to the Quakers. 

The Atlees traced a proud pedigree to William 
Pitt, Earl of Chatham, "that terrible Comet 
of Horse, " to u.se the phrase of Burke. 

And the young people, in order to stop all 
argument as to genealogical preference, decided 



[8. 



to take the baby's advice and move to Phila- 
delphia, the City of Brotherly Love, and make 
a fortune f(jr themselves. And the move was a 
good one. The youngster was named "Wash- 
ington Atlee liurpee"' by his mother, whose 
maiden name was Atlee. 

In England the Atlees lived in the partieular 
coimtry that produced George Washington. 
Edmund Burke once said to George the Third, 
"Your Majesty, we will never whip George 
Washington." And the King askeil, "Why?" 
And Burke replied, "Your Majesty, Washing- 
ton is an Englishman, and he is fighting for 
his liome." 

Tiie English spirit is a pretty fine thing after 
all, and well did Webster say, "The drum-taps 
of the British Nation circle the globe and greet 
the rising sun." 

Transplanted products rule the world. 

George Washington in America was a stronger 
man than he would have l)een in England. 
The families of Burpee and Atle<> were bigger 
and l)etter people in America than they would 
have been had they remained in England; and 
W. Atlee Biu'pee has exerted a wider infiuence 
and enjoyed a bigger career than he could pos- 
sibly have done had he remained in Canada. 

Stay in one place and you get pot-bound. 



Burpee discovered that about sixty per cent 
of the colored people of the male persuasion 
in Philadelphia were named "Washington." 

He then decided to part his name in the 
middle, and since then has called himself W. 
Atlee Burpee. 

However, just write the word "Burpee" on 
an envelope and drop it in the mail-box and 
it will go to W. Atlee Burpee and Company, 
Philadcli)liia, Penn.sylvania. 

This Canadian lail started in raising garden- 
seeds and flower-seeds in Eighteen Hundred 
Seventy-six, Centennial year. 

Burpee made it his task to know exactly what 
the seeds were that he was selling. Every lot 
of seeds was tested. 

It takes time to prove the value of seeds. 
The venture grew slowly, steadily, surely. At 
first there was just one traveling man employed, 
and that was W. Atlee Burpee. Soon Mr. 
Burpee found that he could deal with his cus- 
tomers by mail. This was before the time of 
the Parcels-Post, but seeds do not weigh heavy, 
and this was an advantage. Burpee issued his 
little catalog and wrote letters to his friends. 
He began business when he was eighteen years 
of age, and when he was twenty-one he had a 
thousand dollars in the bank and plenty of 




across the " Rridge of Roses," passing the Farm Office on the right, then comes — 



It is the struggle to adapt yourself to a new 
environment that causes growth. This is about 
all there is in college education — a change of 
environment. 

Washington A. Burpee went to the University 
of Pennsylvania, and there the boys insisted 
on calling him "Wash." About this time young 



energy to make the thousand grow. The 
growth of the Burpee business has marked 
the growing evolution in America of a love for 
the out-of-doors. Slowly, surely, steadily, the 
business has advanced, until the year Nineteen 
Hundred Thirteen has been the biggest and 
best (although not the most profitable) that 



o: 



Burpee has ever enjoyed. Mr. Burpee has a 
farm of more than two hundred acres near 
Uoylestown, known as Fordhook. At Fordhook 
are raised tomatoes, corn and sweet peas as 
specialties, and nearly three hundred varieties 
of small vegetal )les and flowers, and these are 
raised just for llic seeds and notliing else. 



to the handling of seeds. Here, upwards of 
three hundred employees take care of the orders. 
Often between five and ten thousand separate 
orders will be handled in a single day. Every 
order is filled within twenty-four hours after it 
is received. There are no middlemen with 
whom to divide responsibilities or profits. 




the Farmhouse on Fordhook. This Lawn and other Lawns at Fordhook Farms were produced from the same blend 

Fordhook Finest Lawn Grass as were the Lawns that won the Grand Prize at St. Louis, 1904, and the only Gold 

Medal for Lawns at Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland, Oregon, 1905 



Experiments are going on constantly the 
whole year through, under glass and out of 
doors. Everything that science can bring to 
bear in the way of betterment of conditions 
is being done in order to produce the finest, 
the strongest, the most harfly, and the most 
productive vegetables and flowers. 

Then there is another Burpee farm known as 
Sunnybrook, at Swedesboro, New Jersey. This 
farm is sandy, and considerably warmer than 
the Pennsylvania soil. Here are raised tomatoes, 
eggplants, cucumbers, melons, peppers and 
special flowers. 

Then Mr. Burpee has a farm in California 
known as Floradale. This is situated in the 
Lompoc Valley, between Los Angeles and San 
Francisco. Floradale is sacred to the raising 
of sweet peas and other flowers. Mr. Burpee 
thinks he has produced sweet peas that ap- 
proximate perfection. The seeds of these 
sweet peas, raised in California (one hundred 
eighty acres the past season), are sent all over 
the world, and the transplantation from the 
sunny clime of California to a colder climate 
produces some remarkably beautiful flowers. 
In Philadelphia Mr. Burpee has warehouses 
which have been built and adapted especially 



Burpee guarantees his goods to the full extent 
of the price paid, and he has gradually won the 
confidence of the florists and gardeners of the 
world, professional and amateur. 

And any individual who isn't a gardener is drop- 
ping something out of his life that he will have 
to go back and pick up in another incarnation. 

BCHPEE EFFICIENCY 

Once in a while you hear it asked, "What 
will become of this wonderful business when Mr. 
Burpee passes out.-*" 

The fact is, Burpee is big enough, not only to 
evolve wonderful fruits, flowers and vegetables, 
but also to grow a very fine product in the way 
of men. 

For instance, he has two sons, David and 
Washington Atlee Burpee, Junior, who are in 
the Agricultural Department of Cornell Uni- 
versity. 

These boys are farmers by prenatal tendency. 
But aside from these likely lads, in the Burpee 
business are upwards of two hundred very 
strong, earnest, intelligent men and women 
who have grown up in the business, who take a 
direct, personal interest in it, and who have 
grown as the business has grown. Burpee is 



101 




Ill 
!!! 

'.Li 



;!! ifil^iitiHBHiiii 




la 



The old-f;ishioned garden. The open gate 
of this old-fashioned garden is symbolic 
of the genuine hospitality that is every- 
where evident when one is fortunate enough 
to visit this famous Seed Farm and Trial 
Grounds. — \V. F. T. 




This picturesque old-fashioned garden is the particular pride of 
the mistress of Fordhook. The stately fountain, flanked to the 
east and to the west by lily pools, completes a wonderfully beauti- 
ful picture that has as a part the sun dial and pigeon house 
sho%vn to the right. These broad lawns have been the scene of 
man.v a pleasant outing that will linger long in the minds of 
friends who gathered to share with W. Atlee Burpee and his 
family the pleasure that only Fordhook affords. — \V. F. T. 




[11 



big enough to get other people to help in his 
work. He has all the time there is. If you get 
your nose too close to the soil you will not see 
the stars. 

Burpee's interests are widely diversified. He 
is a director in various banks and trust com- 
panies; takes a deep interest in educational 



be? We build upon the past, and all the days 
that have gone before make this day possible. 
These great men of the past loom large before 
us because they had practically no competition. 
They were planets, while today men of their 
magnitude are lost in a milky way of moving 
humanitv. 




Partial view of poultry yards at Fordhook. Barred Plymouth Rocks, Brown Leghorns, White Leghorns and Light 
Brahmas are the only four breeds now carried 

\Ye call Benjamin Franklin our all-round 
educated American. But in his time the forests 
were a menace, trees a nuisance, and less than 
one-half of the men in America could read and 
write, and a woman who could read was a 
curiosity. 

The planting of trees and the cultivation of 
flowers are comparatively new industries. 
Vi . Atlee Burpee is a close friend of Luther Bur- 
bank. He is also on good terms with about 
all of the strong and able men in similar lines 
in the United States and Europe. He is a 
cosmopolitan. And yet he does not forget the 
toilers. He meets his people on terms of equal- 
ity, and is a wc^rker among them — able and 
willing if needs be to perform the most menial 
tasks. 

If there is any one man in America, more than 
another, who is making the waste places green, 
and the desert to blossom like tlie rose, that 
man is W. Atlee Burpee, seedsman magnus, 
anil gentleman suj)erbus. 



matters; is interested in sanitation, hygiene 
and athletics; and is a life member of the Royal 
Horticultural Society of Great Britain, and the 
National Society of Horticulture in France. 
Burpee has lived a big, active, generous life. 
Not only has he loved the flowers and the plants 
and the trees and the growing things, but his 
heart has gone out to humanity. He is a citizen 
of the world, and he is also a citizen t)f "The 
Celestial City of Fine Minds." And what is 
more, he is not retiring from business. 

He is right in the seed business today just as 
earnestly as he was in Eighteen Hundred 
Seventy-six, when Thomas A. Edison exhiljited 
the first telephone in Philadelphia. 

Burpee is a worker. If you want things doni', 
of course, you have to call on a busy man — the 
other kind has no time. But Burpee is big 
enough so he pushes his business, and does 
not let the business push him. 

Burpee is a composite of Aristotle, George 
Fox, John Wesley, Benjamin P'ranklin and 
Josiah Wedgwood. And why shouldn't he 



The Burpee Business is builded not for the present only but with an outlook to the future. A 
business that has no vision of the future, or the object of which is mere money-making, would not be 
worthy a life's work.— W. ATLEE BURPEE. 

[12] 




\\. AU.c Burp,'.'. f;inioiH s Ntiiaii, l.rnui.'ht tu,. .nil,) loads nf liis family to Enst Aurora to show them how the Roy- 
croft Farm had improvi'd with thi- u.si- of "Sot-ds that Grow." — Reproduci-d from " The l*'ra." August, 1915 

Inspired by his personal friendship for the founder of The House of Burpee, our friend — that 
inimitable genius. Elbert Hubbard — honored us with the leading article, from his own pen, in "The 
Fra" for March, 1914. "Flowers and Fruits," reproduced on the preceding pages, is from "The Fra" 
of that date. 

Since the untimely passing of Elbert Hubbard we have again visited the scene of his life's work 
and ambition. 

Everywhere at Roycroft are the unmistakable evidences of his master mind and personality. 

More than ever we realize the greatness of the man. 

More than ever we appreciate the tribute, "F'lowers and Fruits," because it marks one of the 
places, in the last year of a busy and useful life, where Elbert Hubbard paused for a time to be of 
service to a fellow-man.— W. ATLEE BUUPEE. 




One of the Barns at Fordhook. Commodious and substantial buildings house all Fordhook operations 

fl3l 




Farm scenes at Fordhook. Comfortable and at- 
tractive farm houses are a part of the equipment. 
The house to the left is situated on the David Bur- 
pee farm, which is the latest addition to the Ford- 
hook group 





The farm house in the picture above is located 
to the southwest of the farm house shown on 
patre 10 and is on the Blanche Burpee farm. 
To the ri^ht is shown a reaper busy with a 
crop of oats. These are raised in rotation with 
other crops and are used as feed 




The Burpee -Quality Seed of Tomatoes 



The choicest Tomato seed has been u Icadiiii^ 
specialty with us for years. We pride ourselves 
on the number and merit of the \arieties we 
have introduced. Our stock of Tomato seed 
is frrown iarf^ely on our own Fokdhook Farms 
in Pennsylvania and Si nxyhrook F.vini in 
New Jersey, where careful stock selections are 
made. Our seed is strictly the hk;iik.st (iitAOK 
obtainable. \\'hile our prices are quite moder- 
ate considering the quality of seed, we cannot 
comi)ete, nor do we wish to do .so, with the 
cheaper grades of seed, — large quantities of 



some of the leading \arietics being saved by 
canning establishments and sold at })rices far 
below the actual cost of (/roiring first-class seed. 
Our extensive trials each sca.son make us familiar 
with all the newer introductions and standard 
\arictics, thus we know excry (h-sirable l\\n\ 

.\b)st .seedsmen charge less for Tomato seed 
than do we, but the .seed is usually worth cor- 
respondingly less. What does the cost actually 
matter when you consider that it requires 
only two ounces of .sci'd to produce sufficient 
plants to set out an acre? 




Harrowing; iiclil iii wIikIi to .lel out iuiiLiloe-, at Fordhook. Ttiorough soil preparation i.~. esseutial to good crops 
Every practice that makes for better crops is a part of the Fordhook routiue 




Setting out a field with plants of Hurpee's Matchless Tomato. The fields are checked (or marked) lioth nays and care- 
ful hand-setting is practiced. "Not how fast but how good" is the planting slogau 

[151 



Growing and Saving Toitiato Seed at Fordhook 




Afield of liiir|„,\ |l^^,l^|■ ( .laiil Iciiiato. Men in the distance ,ir. |.i.kiiiu' Ihr ript- fruit wliil. 

the washer 



loading for 




The Tomato- washer at fordhook. !Note simphcity of building. Pacihties are sufficient to take care of twelve hundred 
bushels daily. Here we save the seed only, the pulp being hauled on fields and used as fertilizer 

[161 



Washing and Drying Tomato Seed at Fordhook 




Rear vii-w of Tuiiiato-washer. The barrels contain the ground nias.s after pulp and skin have l)een removed in the 
separator. The large trough-like boxes are used in thoroughly washing the seed 




The Tomato Drying-racks and Seed House at Fordhook. All seed is dried naturally, and when remo\ed from the racks 
is sacked and later put through cleaning machine 

[17] 




A field of Phlox Drummoudii Gniudil 



at Fordhook. This field looked like a groat Turkish rug spread out uuder the 
summer sun 




Boys picking seed of Salvia lijplendens in one of the fields at Fordhook. We are the largest growers of Salvia seed in 
America. The block here shown is only one of a number grown at Fordhook. Another field of Salvia is shown on page 25 

[18 1 



Forty Years of Burpee Service — Anniversary Supplement 



Printers' Ink 

Kegislercd U. S. Fatenl Office 

A JOURNAL FOR ADVERTISERS 
Entered AS Second-Class Matter at the New York, N.Y., Post Office, June 29, 1893 

Vol. XCI New York, June 17, 1915 No. 13 



The Personality That Is Behind 
the Burpee Business 

Based on an Authorized Interview by Roy W. Johnson with 

W. Atlee Burpee 

Of \V. Atlec Burpee & Co., i'hiladelphia 



"fO" EARLY twenty-five years 
-'-^ ago— December 24, 1S90, 
to be exact — W. Atlee Burpee of- 
fered, through Printers' Ink, a 
prize of $50 for the "best adver- 
tisement" calculated to bring busi- 
ness to the seed house of W. Atlee 
Burpee & Co. "Should there be 
a second advertisement also of 
special merit," he announced, "we 
will gladly pay an additional prize 
of $25." 

Now the ad which won the first 
prize in that contest has long 
ago been forgotten. As a speci- 
men of the weird typography in 
vogue in those days, it stood high 
indeed, and probably was worth 
all it cost. But the second prize 
— for there iva-s a second prize, 
and several additional awards in- 
to the bargain — went to an adver- 
tisement which was quite modest- 
ly set around the luminous phrase, 
"Burpee's Seeds Grow." "That 
piece of copy," says Mr. Burpee, 
"was submitted by Wiley B. Jones, 
then of Burlington, Vt. Had I 
known how innnensely valual)le 
his phrase was to become to the 
business, he certainly should have 
received the first prize at the very 
least." 

There you have the "origm" of 
one of the most successful slo- 
gans in existence. But in the hum- 
ble opinion of the present writer, 
Mr. Burpee should have awarded 
an extra-special-first-prize to him- 
self as the man who first recog- 
nized the value of the phrase. The 
ordinary individual would have 
passed over it as merely a com- 



monplace statement of fact. "What 
does Mr. Burpee expect his seeds 
to do; sing and dance?" asked H. 
C. Brown, then' editor of a publi- 
cation called Art in Advertising. 
And a certain competitor with a 
fine sense of sarcasm (though as 
much can hardly be said of his 
advertising sense) devoted some 
half-dozen lines of perfectly good 
advertising space to the headline, 
"Weed Seeds Grow." Sometimes 
the make-up man would rise to 
the occasion by placing the "Weed 
Seed" copy directly beneath one 
of Mr. Burpee's ads — which did 
not worry the latter gentleman 
in the least. 

THE WHOLE STORY IN THE SLOGAN 

There were a few years diiring 
which Mr. Burpee worded the 
slogan thus : "Burpee's Seeds 
Grow, and Are the Best that 
Grow." "You will notice," he 
said, "that? that expression is 
free from the vulgarity of claim- 
ing that Burpee's seeds are the 
best seeds. It only states that 
they are the best that can be 
grown." But for many years 
now the slogan has been used 
in its simple, unequivocal form. 
After all, there is nothing further 
that one wants to know about 
seeds. 

And when all is said and done, 
that plain, unostentatious, and ap- 
parently commonplace slogan is 
quite typical of the Burpee busi- 
ness, and of the man who is its 
active head. There is very little 
of the spectacular, and absolutely 



Table of Contents on page 126 



Lack of space prevents our reproducing in facsimile the entire article from Printers' Ink. The first page shown above 

is facsimile; the balance in regular form 

[19] 



not a trace of the sensational, to be found in the 
selHng methods of the concern. One who is 
used to the high-pressure system of running a 
business so as to mai<e the market yield every 
last order it is possible to obtain, would doubt- 
less feel that a good many opportunities were 
being overlooked. He probably would want 




W. Atlee Burpee 



to "key-up" the organization the first thing, 
and he probably would succeed in creating the 
atmosphere of feverish activity. But whether 
or not it would result in more actual business 
is another question. 

For be it known that Mr. Biu-pee is one mail- 
order man who does not believe in follow-up. 
For years he has advertised that his customers 
will not be troubled with follow-up literature, 
and it is literally true. 

"In this business," says Mr. Burpee, "forced 
sales are like forced plants — you can raise them, 
but the natural growth is better. It is easy to 
overpersuade a man to buy a few packets of 
seeds, but it isn't the seeds he really wants — 
its the product of the seeds. The price of the 
seeds is infinitesimal compared with the value 
of the expected crop. But suppose the crop 
doesn't materialize as he expects. Suppose he 
plants the seeds too deep (as most inexperienced 
gardeners do), or that he puts them under an 
eaves-spout, or on the south side of a brick 
garage where they are never watered, ^^'ill he 



justly charge the crop failure to his own care- 
lessness.'' No, he will blame the seedsman who 
overpersuaded him to buy. Naturally enough, 
too, you must admit. 

"But, on the other hand, if he received only 
a straightforward statement of what may 
reasonably be expected, from a house in which 
he has confidence, he is more apt 
to conclude that the trouble was 
at his end of the line. In other 
words, if he has been sold partly 
against his will, he will be resent- 
ful, while if he has sold himself, 
so to speak, we are likely to hear 
from him again." 

In the present writer's opinion., 
you have there the whole selling 
philosophy of the Burpee busi- 
ness. It certainly doesn't har- 
monize with many of the most 
modern ideas; it would spell stark 
ruin for the manufacturer of 
washing - machines and type- 
writers; it wouldn't do for a 
dealer proposition. But Mr. 
Buipee has made a conspicuous 
success with it, and if the result- 
ing good will of thousands of 
consumers was slow in the build- 
ing, it is just that much the 
harder for competitors to tear 
it down. 

So it practically comes down 
to this, as Mr. Burpee puts it: 
"The catalogue must sell the 
goods." The catalogue is a 
mighty important item in any 
mail-order business, but it is par- 
ticularly important here because 
it has borne practically the whole 
burden of making sales. So 
important is "The Silent Sales- 
man, " as the Burpee catalogue 
is called, that Mr. Burpee has 
always written the text himself, 
and the descriptions of the 6,000 
odd varieties contained therein 
are exclusively his own. When 
this interview took place at his 
home in Fordhook Farms, the most conspicuous 
objects on JNIr. Burpee's desk were the latest copy 
of Printers' Ink and a pile of page lay-outs for 
the 191G catalogue. That was the 21st of May, 
and the buying season will not begin until 
December. Subordinates are permitted to 
work up suggestions for the catalogue covers, 
the color illustrations, etc., but when it comes 
to the actual description of the goods, the guid- 
ing hand of the founder and head of the business 
takes absolute charge. It isn't a question of 
O.K.ing what somebody else has written from 
more or less imperfect knowledge. It is a matter 
of going over personally the whole body of text 
each year, and making a thorough revision of 
the descriptive matter. So dependent is the 
business upon the good will of the ultimate 
consumer that Mr. Burpee has been unwilling to 
entrust the catalogue work to any other hands. 

NAMES WHICH CANNOT BE PROTECTED 

As a matter of fact, that good-will value of 
his name and trademark is almost the only 



20 



permanent asset wliich the mail-order seeds- 
man can rely upon. He cannot even protect 
the new varieties which he originates and intro- 
duces. The manufacturer can secure patents 
to cover his inventions, he can give trade-names 
to hi.s designs which can he j)rotcctcd, he can 
keep his processes secret. But when the seeds- 
man develops a new variety of vegetable or 
flower, it is exclusively his only so long as he 
controls the supply of the seed. Any com- 
petitor can buy the seed, plant it, and raise 
his own supply for future seasons. The origi- 
nator cannot even i)rotcct the name of the new 
variety, for his comjjetitors are not offering an 
imitdfion, but the genuine article. Be it said 
to the credit of the seed trade, however, that 
among the leading houses there is little or no 
disposition to compete unfairly in the matter of 
names. It is quite the usual thing to find due 
credit given in seed catalogues when a variety 
is featured which was originated by a com- 
petitor. Don't get the idea, however, that the 
name is unimportant because its 
exclusive usecannot beprotected. 
The originator of the variety has 
the exclusive use of it for a year 
or two anyway, and there is 
always the chance that some 
competitor may think of a better 
name. Mr. I5urpee, who has 
originated and introduced more 
new varieties than any other 
commercial seedsman, tells of 
several such instances. 

Thus it is apparent that the 
seedsman, in addition to the 
scientific work of producing 
improved varieties, has the task 
of giving them names which will 
"stick" if he is to get the full 
value of his investment. Mr. 
Burpee has been remarkably suc- 
cessful in this respect. This 
year a special folder — "The 
Silent Salesman's Assistant" — 
featuring seventy - six varieties 
which he had introduced, was 
sent to customers of record who 
had not ordered for two years 
back. Among the seventy-six 
names are many varieties of 
vegetables which have become 
standardized in the trade, and 
are identified with Burpee even 
though credit may not lie given 
in every case: such names as 
"(xolden Bantam" for corn, 
"Wayahead" for lettuce, "Blue 
Bantam" for peas, "Danish 
Roundhead" for cabbage, " Howl- 
ing Mob" for corn, "Hailstone" 
for white radishes, etc., etc. Any 
advertising man who is interested 
in the psychology of trade-names 
can find plenty of material for 
study in the seed trade. The 
"Rocky Ford 



Rocky Ford, Colorado. It is easy to see how 
conditions such as are noted above combine to 
place a great responsibility upon the man who 
writes the seed catalogue. And as stated, Mr. 
Burpee does not entrust that important work to 
any other hands. He must know his goo<ls — 
and he does know them. At Fordhook each year 
more than 7,000 trials are made for vitality and 
integrity of strain, and upwards of 15,000 soil 
tests. These tests are made by counting out 100 
seeds from the top, middle and bottom of con- 
tainers, planting them under known conditions, 
and taking copious notes on the resulting growth. 
Mr. Burpee is in close personal touch with all of 
this work, and the catalogue pages are written 
from positive data. When you read in the 
catalogue that eighty per cent of a certain va- 
riety of dahlia came "true to type" at Ford- 
hook, antl that sixty per cent can be reasonably 
expected elsewhere, you may be quite certain 
that the first figure is represented by actual 
observation, and that tlie second is understated 





6^A;/ 



THE HEADQUARTERS FOR 

Sweet Peas 



W"-"^ 


five 
Nc 


(.irnis 
w Jet 


ey 'and 


CaWlorn 


a, w 


e -have 


the lar- 


gest, most compli 


tetr 


al grou 


nds,-to 


••frorealhhrng,." 


We 


were th 


e first in 


America tc 


gro 


w "Sl'ENCERS," 


^ and have 


tod 3 


V the 


choicest 


|i\ strains of these 




magnifl- 


I cent, gig 


ntic 


new 


waved 


A Sweet Peas 


. U 


nlike se 


ed gen- 


1' erally sold 




Re-sf.lected 


H Stocks no 


vco 


neahsol 


utely,,.. 


^ to the supc 


rb' 


Spence 


r" type 



Six Superb "Spencers" 

For 25 Cts. s;,::';:^";;:"^;:::^';: 



/ 



25 Cts. 



For 50 Cts. 



For $1.00 ,;: 





Six "Superfine" Spencers 

rOr ZO Us. K,»;F.D»„DSrENCE«,,h.,..ind™,™lc,,AprL.Bu 



Five Ne"w "Spencers" 

r^,, or P- wc «,ll moil one ttjular pactci t.ich nl Bmrrt S QflEN ViC- 

rOr lO Us. to.iaSmnce. p,™,o>. H,„l„-d fl.,b. Const ANCi OcvE.. 
Mch rose on crram . BcurtES Aui 0«« SpenCER. bficbr otanec-salmon Hakcd ,— Mrs. 
C VV Bp.i,HiMO«E, |»nt. cJtcd on cri;an.. and TenNanT Sf-ekiik. dicp hclioir,,,,, 
Zm-\\'t,(thc, loo ordt-r noiv or nor, \ou Oundd Miirl, iw.rv to, 

The Leading American Seed Catalog for 1911 



W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Burpee Buildings, Philadelphia 



Full-page copy in natural colors, featuring the special assortments 



well-known 
muskmclon was first introduced 
by Mr. Burpee in 1881, under the name "Netted 
Gem." It was popularly known by the latter 
name for many years, but the geographical name 
finally took precedence because the melons 
were grown in such large quantities around 



rather than exaggerated. Mr. Burpee is his 
own vigilance committee, and an extremely 
effective one. 

INQUIRIES ACCOMP.\NIED BY ACTUAL ORDERS 

Inquiries for the catalogue are secured by 
advertising in upwards of 700 publications; 



21 



magazines, woiiicn'.s pulilications, farm papers 
and a long list of newspapers. The campaign 
begins in tiie early fall, works up to full pages 
just before the height of the busy season, and 
gradually works down again to the minimum. 
Certain mediums which reach large growers 
are used the year "round with copy which more 
nearly approaches what is generally known as 
"general j)ub!icity." In the height of the sea- 
son many Ijack and inside covers are used, and 
many of the pages carry illustrations of flowers 
and vegetables in their natural color. 

During the season of 1915, more than a million 
catalogues were sent out to customers of record. 



The 

Leading 
American 
Seed 

Catalog 



A Post Card 

Will BrinS 

These Books 

To You 



Burpee's 
Seeds 

Grow 




CONFIDENCE 



Is the one thing that makeg 
possible the comnif rce of the 
■world. It is the greatest factor 
that enters into a purchase of 
seeds, because yoa are not buy- 
ing a finished product, but only the 
meansby which yourgardenmaj be 
be eit her a success or a failure. Seeds 
— good or bad — may look the same, 
but their resulting crops — How dif- 
ferent. You cannot afford to risk a 
season's work with seeds of unknown 
quality. When you buy BURPEE'S 
SEEDS, the element of doubt is re- 
moved so far as is possible by human care. 
The confidence of many thousands of 
pleased and permanent customers is maintained by the Burpee Idea of 
Quality Kiist—" Togiverathci than to get all that is possible." This con- 
fidence on the part of our customers — combined with the elTicient Burpee 
Service — has built the World's Greatest Mail-Order Seed Business. 

THE HOUSE OF BURPEE 

Has inlroduced more distinct, new Variclies of vegetable and flower 
seeds thai are now in general cultivation thar\ have any three other 
American firms, but never have we catalogued any one of these new 
varieties until it has passed all the exacting requirements of the Burpee 
Standard. This Burpee Standard is maintained by rigid tests at Ford- 
hook Farms, America's Largest and Most Complete Trial Grounds. 
These tests are made each year for the purpose of strengthening this 
Bond of Confidence between our customers and ourselves. 

BURPEE'S ANNUAL FOR 1915 

Our Silent Salesman, is a bright new book of 182 pages. It is a safe 
guide to success, and of real value to everyone who plants seeds either 
for pleasure or profit. Florists and Market Gardeners should have 
Burpee's " Blue List " for 1915. This is our wholesale price list for 
planters, and the most complete catalog of its kind published. Write 
for these books today. A postcard will bring them both. 



W. ATLEE 

nURPFK BUILDINGS 



BURPEE & CO., 

PHILADELPHIA 



Late copy which plays up the .slogan and the good-will element 



and in response to inquiries received from the 
advertising. The catalogue is never sent 
promiscuously to lists of names. A large pro- 
portion of the inquiries were accompanied by 
an actual order for seeds due to the plan devel- 
oped by Mr. Burpee many years ago of offering 
popular combinations of .seeds at nominal prices 
in the advertising. The copy reproduced on 
page six shows how some of these combinations 
are featured. The sale of the combination 
helps to pay the cost of getting the inquiry, and 
the catalogue is mailed at the same time with 
the order. It would not be fair to tell just what 



proportion of the catalogues mailed produce 
actual, profitable orders, but it is large enough 
to make one's mouth water. The size of the 
average order is between two and three dollars, 
a few orders being received for as little as five 
cents, and .some running high into the hundreds 
of dollars — which represents a good many seeds, 
it may l)e noted. 

One thing will be noticed at once by any care- 
ful observer of the Burpee catalogue: it contains 
practically no directions for planting or cultiva- 
tion. "There is a very good reason for that," 
said Mr. Burpee. "In the first place, to give 
adequate directions would take up too much 
space, and the book would become 
quite unwieldy. In the .second 
place, it is useless to send the 
woman who wants an old-fashioned 
flower-garden a complete treatise on 
the raising of muskmelons and 
sweet-corn. In the third place, it 
is imi)ortant for the grower to have 
the directions at hand when he gets 
the seed, not merely when he orders 
it. So we offer, on the order-blank 
which accompanies the catalogue, 
a series of forty leaflets on plant 
culture, any or all of which will be 
sent without charge ;/ the customer 
requests. These leaflets are written 
in sufficient detail to give complete 
information on all points, from the 
preparation and fertilizing of the 
ground to the gathering of the 
crop. The customer who followed 
such brief directions as might be 
given in the catalogue, might have 
legitimate cause for dissatisfaction 
if the crop did not turn out right, 
but the directions in the leaflets are 
so complete that there is little room 
for failure under ordinary conditions. 
And on the other hand the cus- 
tomer who does not ask for infor- 
mation, but goes ahead on his own 
initiative, is not so likely to blame 
the seed house." 

Furthermore, thousands of letters 
are received from customers each 
summer and fall, telling of their 
success or failure with certain crops, 
and asking for advice on a multi- 
tude of different points. These 
letters are invited in the catalogue, 
and it is a genuine invitation, for 
they are all answered with all 
necessary details. "It entails a tre- 
mendous amount of correspondence," 
said Mr. Burpee, "but we like 
we keep the invitation standing. It 




it, and 

gives us a great deal of pleasure to read of the 
success of our customers, and where a failure is 
recorded we can generally give advice which 
will lead to success another season." 

Three years ago a department was established 
which is devoted to children's gardens — furnish- 
ing seeds of the regular quality in small packets 
at two cents apiece, and teaching the youngsters 
how to raise their little crops. Naturally such 
work is purely educational now, since the depart- 
ment will hardly pay for its overhead, but it is 
establishing friendly relations with the coming 



22 



generation of gardeners. Every feature of the 
Burpee business can be traced back to the good- 
will idea. 

A "blanket guaraxtee" 
Now conies the question of guarantees. IIow 
can a house guarantee its product when so much 
depends upon the way in which it is handled by 
the customer? As a matter of fact, it cannot 
guarantee results, but it can and does replace 
seed which does not grow, or it refunds the 
full price paid if the growing season is over. 
Here is the guarantee as worded by Mr. l?urpee: 
"At Fordhook Farms all seeds are tested, but 
we hold fast to only that which is good. The 
field trials numlier fully 7,000, while more than 
15,000 soil tests for vitality are made every year. 
The vitality can be proved easily before plant- 
ing, but even an expert examination would fail 
to show whether seeds were of a high-grade 
pedigree strain or the veriest rubbish. The fact 
that more planters order direct from us year 
after year than from any other firm in .\merica 
should show Burpee's Seeds That Grow have 
been found trustworthy. A mistake may oc- 
casionally occur (to err is human), while success 
depends largely upon conditions of soil and 
climate which are beyond hiunan control. 
Hence, no honest seedsman could assume re- 
sponsibility for more than the jjrice actually 
paid by the purchaser. It goes without .saying 
that if you are not thoroughly satisfied you can 
have your money back any time within the 
year, for such is the guarantee that protects 
all who plant seeds purchased from Burpee, 
Philadelphia. " 

That is the blanket guarantee which covers 
everything sent out — covers it thorousjiily, one 
nu'ght add. While the writer was sitting in the 
Philadelphia offices talking to Ailvertising 
Manager Therkildson, a letter came in from a 
man who mildly suggested that a mistake had 
been made. He thought the house had sent 



him husks instead of seed, for he planted some 
of them and they didn't come up. 

No wonder they didn't. Mr. Customer had 
ordered dahlia l)ulbs, and had received them 
packed in l)uckwlieat chaff. Presumably he 
had thrown the l)ulbs away and j)lanted the 
chaff. \Vho.se fault was it.^ Not the fault of 
the seed house, surely, yet Mr. Customer re- 
ceived a new set of bulbs, and a careful letter 
of explanation. That is the settled policy of 
handling complaints-, on the tlieory that if a 
man is interested enough to comi)lain he is 
worth cultivating. A complaining customer is 
seldom a lost customer, but the man who says 
nothing about his dissatisfaction may buy some- 
where else another year. 

It all comes back in tlie end to one central 
idea — getting the customer's good will, and keep- 
ing it by making a friend of him. Mr. Burpee 
holds fast to those things which have proved 
their Usefidness, and is not inclined to try experi- 
ments whii-h may be regarded unfavora'oly by 
those who have dealt with the house for years. 

"I hope you will never change the size or 
form of PuiXTERs" Ixk, " he said. "It would be 
like changing the face of an old friend. \Mien 
most of the l)ig seed houses adojited tlie large- 
size catalogue page aufl half-tone illustrations, 
I kept our 'Silent Salesman" in the old familiar 
shape. There is a certain fricndlini-ss and 
trustworthiness in the familiar size and the 
wood-cuts, which might be lost in shiny paper 
and too-brilliant half-tones. The grower can 
slip the 'Silent Salesman' into his pocket, and 
take it right down into the field with him. The 
'dressed-up" catalogue can't be carried without 
folding, which makes a very Imlky and incon- 
venient proposition. But most important of 
all, our catalogue bears the face of a friend, in 
which our customers have confiflence. That 
confidence is the one thing we are willing to 
go to any amount of trouble to protect and de- 
fend." 




A view of a corner of one of the kennels, showing some of the collies for which Fordhook is famous 

[23] 




A tliird iieUi of Phlox Drummondii at Fordhook, where many acres are grown 




Hic^ediof (^ijaitiy' 



Girard's 
Topics of the Town 



"God Almighty first planted 
a garden," said Bacon, and 
ever since Eden gardening has 
been a highly respectable 
business. Emerson said that 
" the earth laughs in flowers, " 
and John Milton, blind though he was, spoke 
of "flowers of paradise." I didn't intend, 
however, to reproduce Bartlett's Familiar Quo- 
tations, but to tell you something about Wash- 
ington Atlee Burpee. 

Here is a gentleman whose father was from 
the French Bcaupres, whose mother's people, 
the Atlees, lived in England at the early home 
of the Washingtons, and himself born in Canada, 
works in Philadelphia and lives in Bucks County. 
Besides that, he is probably responsible for 
more flowers than any other person in the land. 
Thousanfls of years ago it was commanded: 

" In the morning sow thy seed and in the even- 
ing withhold not thine hand"; and Burpee is 
the man who grows the seeds you sow, hence I 
might almost christen him the godfather of 
flowers. 




Nearly everybody hereabouts 

has heard of the wonderful 

Fordhook farms, near Doyles- 

town; but bless you, broad as 

are their several hundred 

acres, they don't produce 

more than a fraction of all the seeds which this 

bucolic artist and poet distributes over the world. 

"Do you buy seeds in Europe?" I asked 
him. 

"I dislika that word 'buy' because I don't 
buy seeds anywhere. I grow and sell them," 
was his answer. 

Yes, Mr. Burpee not only raises tomato 
seeds in Bucks County, but cabbages in Den- 
mark, beets, radishes and carrots in France, 
sweet peas in California and goodness alone 
knows how many other things in other parts of 
America. Each thing is growTi where it will 
develop the best; but even so, Mr. Burpee 
takes nobody's say-so for a seed any more than 
Uncle Sam's mint will take your gold without 
assaying it. 

When I visited this friend of Luther Burbank 



* GirarJ's Topics of the Town is reprinted from the "Public Ledger," Philadelpliia, Saturday, September 11, 1915. 



24 



at Fordhook I saw hundreds, yes, thousands, 
of these floral assays in progress. Every seed 
is tested, first to see if it will grow and second 
to see if it will reproduce true as promised. 

Don't, fair reader, turn up your nose and ex- 
claim that a seed is a seed. So is an egg an egg. 
Somebody even proved that "pigs is pigs." 

Compared to some of tiie seeds Mr. Burpee 
raises, gold is a cheap and insignificant com- 
modity. It is only worth around $'250 a pound. 

A particular flower seed commands $1G00 a 
pound. "But we don't deal in it l)y the pound, 
t)nly by the ounce or the dozen of seeds, " re- 
marked this erstwhile physician, who turned 
from healing sick humans to perfecting flowers 
and vegetables. 

If you can develop a fine new variety of sweet- 
pea, for instance, it will bring you more than 
Kipling gets for one of his poems, and, measured 
by the poet's recent output, I think it is worth 
considerably more. 

To my mind, a bean is as devoid of romance as 
a chunk of Belgian block pavement. Yet Mr. 
Burpee will tell you a pretty story about the 
"bush lima," which elevates that particular 
bean to the realms of high art. 

Did you know that the first place anybody 
ever saw a lima bean that didn't have to be sup- 
ported on a pole was in Bayard Taylor's garden 
at Kennett Square? A fact. There a lima bean, 
which presumably had no pole to lean upon, 
merely out of spite, just raised itself. 

They took the seed of that bean, and the 
"bush lima" has since then been worth tens 
of thousands to American gardeners. And 



Mr. Burpee, before his episode of the bean, in- 
troduced that elite of melons — the Rocky Ford 
cantaloupe. I've always thought he deserved 
something better than an Iron Cross for that 
special day's work. 

However, to catalogue Mr. Burpee's seed 
triumphs woidd reriuire a book as big as his 
own .seed catalogue, which I understand goes 
to a million persons every year. 

It is refreshing to hear this solid business man 
and banker, as well as seed grower, talk of tlie 
ethics of trade. 

"What nonsense that competitors must be 
enemies," says he. "On the contrary, in our 
seed business we try to assist each other." 

Then he announced this bit of sound business 
sense: "Make it a point to compete in quality 
rather than in price." 

And as I looked out across many acres of 
vivid-colored flowers — rai.sed not to sell, l)ut 
simply to prove that they ran true to specifica- 
tions — I could readily .see why Mr. Burpee has 
earned his great success and why his two fine 
sons are only ambitious to continue it. 

A fortune for the man who knows how! That 
was my thought as I looked at the productive 
expanse of Mr. Burpee's Fordhook farms, and 
not far away saw an t)reliard of 8000 peach trees 
burdened with fruit. 

"Acres of diamonds at home," said Doctor 
Conwell, and that's the truth if the man has 
the agricultural skill to dig them. No other 
college today has such an oj)portunity to pro- 
duce diamond diggers of the future as our agri- 
cultural colleges. GiRARD. 




illicT ticlcl of Salvia Splendens at Fordhook. Clreat glowing masses of the famous and always popular Scarlet 
are met with all over the farms, streaking the prevailing green tint of the landscape with brilliant acres of red 

[251 



-c.^&"^:*-.-' .^t-t. 'wsa^-^i 






A ii M .it l'iil.>\ I >rimiMi(>n(!ii "rowiiif; at Fordhook 




Auothcr (icld of Phlox Dnimmoudii at Fordhook 

[26] 





151 Ifl'EES SUNiWHUOOK J ARM 

in Soiitli Jersey is proving a most useful ad- 
jinict to FoRDiiooK Fvinis. Here arc concen- 
trated now most of oin- Cururliitdccfr trials, 
wliile some of tlie more important crops are 
grown upon our own land. 

The upper illustration shows boys picking 
a crop of the Xcapolitdii Large Early Pepper. 
The small illustration to left shows the en- 
trance to Si nnyuuook, while the larger pho- 
tograi)h below shows the gathering of a crop 
of Burpee's Extra Early White Spine Cucumber. 










^r^ 



27 



From The Daily Neios and Independent, Santa Barbara, Cal., October 17, 1914 




Flower Farming in 
Lompoc Valley 

Acres of Posies Grown for Seed 



( omparatively few people in 
Santa Barbara know about 
one of the most interesting, 
attractive and important 
show places of California in this county. Yet 
the W. Atlee Burpee & Co. seed farm, in the 
Lompoc valley, is probably doing as much or 
more than any other one thing in advertising 
Santa Barbara county to the world as a land 
of flowers, rich .soil and marvelous possibilities. 
About five years ago W. x\tlee Burpee, who 
is at the head of the greatest mail-order seed 




house in the world, after a 
very exhaustive search 
throughout California for a 
suitable place to establish an 
experimental farm for his famous flower and 
garden seeds, decided that the Lompoc valley 
ottered the best advantages, and jjurchased 
between 50 and 00 acres of the finest lantl in 
that fabulously rich valley, and the results that 
he has attained din-ing the past five years have 
fully justified his investment and proved his 
good judgment in the selection of a location. 




Plowing at Floradale in OctclHT. 



\iilt' the luinpiness of soil as a result of ilry plowing. These lumps melt up readily 
when the earlv winter rains come 



From T }i e F lor i sf s' Exchange , New York, August 7 , 1915 

Floradale Seed Farms, Lompoc, California 

By P. D. B.VKXH.VRDT, Editor of Pacific Garden, Los Angeles, Cal. 



Floradale is the euphonious name of W. Atlee 
Burpee & Co.'s seed farm, near Lompoc, Cal. 
My first visit to the place was June 15, 1910. 
Since then the acreage has been quadrupled. 
The prophecy has been fulfilled. The last day 
of last Jime I visited the jjlace for the fourth 
time and looked with delight on the great 
acreage devoted to the growing of flowers exclu- 



sively, which are to furnish seed of "the best that 
grow." It is pleasant to think that the siui 
ne\-er sets on the gardens which are planted to 
flower seeds grown at Floradale. 

The ajjpearance of those acres in the monlh 
of June is as though they were covered with a 
great carpet, the colors harmonizing and 
ingeniously woven into the fabric. 



28 



Sweet Peas predominate. 
They are the poor mans orchid, 
because of the cheapness of the 
seed. At no phice in the wide 
world is Sweet Pea seed pro- 
duced of such fine quality as 
that grown in Cahfornia. I 
shall refer again to this crop in 
a more specific manner. At 
this time I wish to record my 
impressions of some of the other 
flowers grown at Floradale. 
Lathyrus latifolius, as I never 
saw it grow before, either in 
richness of foliage, size of the 
clusters of flowers, and variety 
of colors, is used for a border 
plant along part of the public 
road through the farm. It is 
the perennial Pea, without fra- 
grance, and hardy everywhere 
in the United States. 

Hordering a driveway is a 
hedge of a single flowering 
species of Dahlia which is grown 
under the name Purpursii. It 
is a brilliant red, and like 
people of brilliant intellect 
attracts immediate attention. 
I do not find the name in any 
work at my command, and 
never saw it elsewhere. Other 
sorts of this flower are also 
grown in quantity because the 
tubers may be left in the ground 
the year around, and the plants 
seed abundantly. 

A bed of \'erbenas, 20 ft. 
wide, 1200 ft. long, mixed 
colors, was a gorgeous sight. 
Readers should always bear in 
mind when reading of Floradale 
that the rows of plants are 
1200 ft. in length. The flow- 
ers on those plants are of 
immense size, and of pro- 
nounced colors. After \'erbenas 
have attained to a certain 
degree of perfection they do 
not produce seed, therefore 
must be perpetuated by 
cuttings. 

A bed of Pentstemon gloxini- 
oides is a wonderful sight. Reds 
and soft shades of pink, the 
plants over 4 ft. tall, and so 
thickly set that it would be 
difficult for a bird to get 
through, and all in full bloom. 

Diinorphotheca aurantiaea. 
Cape Marigold, appeared as if 
a great sheet of goklen colored 
cloth 10 ft. wide had been 
spread across that field, dazzling 
in its beauty. The area devoted 
to this subject is more than 
twelve times the size of that 
which I looked upon five years 
ago. 

Thesingle flowering Petunias, 
which originated at Fordhook 
farms, Pennsylvania, are grown 




lorcj^ruund 



here because of the longer flowering season and 
the greater quantity of seed they will produce 
in this climate. They are of immense size, rich 
and varied in color. The delightful odor of the 
flowers fills the air as it blows across the field, 
and I was carried back in thought to the days of 
childhood when the same sort of perfume filled 
the air in my mother's garden. 



California. The size of the bed is twenty-five 
times as large as the one I saw five years ago. 
I noticed several rows of a pure white flowering 
Digitalis. Two varieties of red California Pop- 
pies, known by the cognomens Fireflame and 
Erecta, were very spectacular in appearance. 

Geranium seed, from varieties of their own 
originating, is produced in quantity because it is 




Petunias at Floradale. From a photograph taktii lu July 



African Marigold, Tagetes erecta, is grown 
here in greater perfection than I have ever seen 
it elsewhere in this country between the two 
oceans. Orange and lemon colored flowers of 
immense size, and wonderfully floriferous, 
yielding seed in abundance of the best quality. 
Another subject from the same country, grown 
here, is Arctotis grandis. Several rows, each 
the entire length of the field, are an interesting 
sight. The plant is a light green color, covered 
with a short tomentcm. The flowers are large, 
the rays a light violet, the disk almost black. 
And what shall I say of the good old-fashioned 
Scabiosa. A perennial on this Coast, a bed of 
it 12 ft. wide, the plants 5 ft. tall and full of 
bloom, one is led to wonder where all the seed 
of this plant can be disposed of. 

The two perennial Centaureas — gymnocarpa 
and candidissima — compose two lines of gray. 
Both species flower profusely and seed abun- 
dantly in this State; moreover they belong to 
the drought-resistant class of plants which do 
well during our dry season, without irrigation. 

A bed of Delphinium belladonna, and one of 
D. chinensis were just coming into bloom; a 
month later they would be a sight worth going 
a long way to see. I have seen plants of the 
first named on this Coast that were 7 ft. tall, 
and all in bloom at once. There were also a 
fine lot of plants of the annual Larkspur. 

Carnation seed is produced in quantity and, 
I was told, is equal in quality to any imported 
stock. Hollyhocks are perennials. They seem 
to have escaped a fungous disease of the foliage 
which disfigures the plant everywhere else in 



of better quality than they can import from 
across the sea. Why should this not be so? 
The plant is a native of South Africa, which has 
a climate very similar to that of this Southland. 

Now as to the Sweet Peas. They are grown 
by the acre. The first variety I inquired after 
was Fiery Cross, the new one, the world beater, 
at least so far as the cost of seed is concerned. 
A dollar and thirty-nine cents a seed would 
naturally lead one to wonder what sort of flower 
it must have been that led Burpee to pay the 
Scotch grower for the first three ounces he had 
for sale. There it was in all its glory, a rich 
fiery salmon color, and so well fixed in character 
that there was not a break in the entire plant- 
ing; a bed 20x1200 ft. in extent, and most re- 
markable, it docs not simburn as docs the major- 
ity of salmon-colored varieties. Cherub is 
another novelty, a beautiful shade of pink, the 
standard picotee-feathered. In my opinion 
it is the best of the class yet introduced. Robert 
Sydenham is a new salmon variety which sun- 
burns unless grown under lath or in glass houses. 
For the cut flower grower of the Atlantic Coast 
it will be a decided acquisition. On this Coast 
no one ever thinks of growing a Sweet Pea plant 
under cover of any kind. 

Norvic is the name applied to a white which, 
I must frankly say, is not, in my opinion, equal 
to King White. Margaret Atlee had the appear- 
ance of a double flower, so crinkled are the petals, 
and the color is an exquisite shade of pink. 
Yarrawa is another fine variety, variegated 
pink and white on a delicate cream ground. 

The fellow who has the ability to conjure up 



301 




Flowers grown for ^eeil at Florad.ile. 



It IS pleasant to know that the sun never sets on the gardens which are pl.uited to 
flower seeds grown at F'loradale 



names for all new varieties of Sweet Peas is a 
genius and no mistake. At present there are 
no less than 125 new sorts at Floradale on trial. 
Elimination by comparison will reduce the num- 
ber for introduction to perhaps twenty-five. 

The development on this place during the 
past five years is a wonder. The area of land 
belonging to the firm has been doubled, a well 
of good water provided, and a pump driven by 
electric motor installed, that crops may be irri- 
gated in case of a dry year. This season enough 
rain (24 in.) came that way to supply the crops 
without the artificial application of water. 
Implements of the most approved pattern for 



preparing the ground and for planting, harvest- 
ing and threshing the seed, have been added 
to the equipment, and a fund of information 
acquired in the school of experience of growing 
seeds in that peculiar clinuite, which is one of 
the essentials to success. 

The foundation on which all this is built was 
laid by Edwin Lonsdale who, because of ill 
health, has been obliged to rest. He had the 
wisdom to train two young men, the Buckman 
brothers, in a knowledge of the business of 
seed production, who will, by faithful service, 
maintain the Burpee reputation for high-grade 
seeds. 




^ panoramic view of Floradale showing the mountains in the distance. Some idea of the area cultivated may be had by 
comparing the ranch building at the left with the rest of the picture 

[321 




L't Peas prciloininate. They ar<> the poormaii's nrcliii 
of such fine quality a; 



I. At no plaee in tlie wide world is Swt 
that grown in California 



't Pea seed produced 




More Sweet Peas. The appearance of these acres in the month of June is as though they were covered with a great 
carpet, the harmonizing colors being ingeniously woven into the fabric 

[33] 



Plowing Scenes at Floradale 




■^ix-iiursi' U'aiu plowing. I"lnr;uiak' Farm, r^pririf,', 191o 




Five- and six-liorse teams plowing, Floradale Farm 





'--r 



Two six-horse team- i.lo«i,m uiili H.'^i.^ia-llaiicork .li-k plou,, I'lora.laie I- 
[34 1 



Modern Machinery at Floradale 




Plowing uitli futiTpilhir trurtor ;it l''li)ra(l:ili' I- arm. Siiaiildiiig deep-tilliut; mucliiiR' iu use 




],.-,i., |-|..ra.lal.- Farm 




The irrigation system at P'loradale Farm, showiug pump engine at worli, also discharge from 8-inch pipe 

[35] 




(»reenho)]ses — Burpee's Floradale Farm, Loinpoc, California 



The 1-ompoc Valley is ten miles long and 
about half as wide. It is located on the coast, 
17'2 miles north of Los Angeles, '303 miles south 
of San Francisco. At that particular point 
on this coast the word pacific is a misnomer. 
The contour of tlie land is such that the wind is 
more incessant and more violent than at any 
other place between the two cities naiued. 
As an evidence of the correctness of this state- 
ment, the Ijcach at the entrance of the valley 
is piled high with driftwood. Lompoc is 93 



ft. above sea level. The valley is enclosed by 
hills which are probably 200 ft. high, and these 
arc the sides of the channel through which the 
sea breezes flow in volume, and with a \'elocity 
not met with elsewhere in southern California. 
Consequently, the atmosphere is more humid 
and the average annual temperature lower than 
elsewhere .south of San Fnineisco; and because 
of these favorable climatic conditions Sweet 
Peas grow here to perfection, both in blossoms 
and seed. 




I I as at Floradale ready to thresh. From a photograph taken in August 
[37] 




TliL lUu^tratioij alju\ I- ^liou.. 111.- tliroliiug of Idnjf lots of >uwl pca> al .>ur I loraUaii ram li. XoU- the thrcslic-r is drivcu 
by a gasoline engine. The most modern machinery is used in every operation 



The handling of sweet peas from the time of cutting to threshing is now reduced to a science, although great care 
must be exercised to avoid the many conditions that operate to ofl'set all the care that has been taken in their growing. 

Great squares of canvas are used for piling or stacking the vines so as to save all seed that may shatter. These vines 
are put through a huller or thresher, where all seeds are removed, cleaned and delivered. These seeds are again recleaned 
and in many instances hand-picked to insure the highest quality. Small lots are still threshed as shown in the lower 
picture. 




Threshing small lots of sweet peas at Floradale. From an August photograph 
[3S1 



Forty Years of Burpee Ser vice^A nni ve rsa ry Supplement 



Edwin Lonsdale 

From Florists' Exchange 

before tl 




We regret to announce the 
death of Edwin Lonsdale, 
wliieh occurred on \\'edne.s- 
(hiy, Sept. 1, at the Naturo- 
pathic Institute, Los Angeles, 
Cal., after a long siege of ill- 
ness. Edwin Lonsdale was 
l)orn at Habberley, Shrop- 
shire, England, on Oct. C, 
ISJ'.j, being brought up on his grandfather's 
farm of about 40 acres at Shenstone, part of 
^'hich was cultivated by 
liis father. He was thus, 
from his earliest days, a 
tiller of the soil. He was 
educatetl in the public 
schools (his teacher, by 
the way, being a natural 
gardener), and he soon 
showed an aptitude for 
the work. 

At the age of 1'2, after 
leaving school, he found 
work at Footherley Hall 
gardens, later at ALinley 
Hall gardens; still later 
he was employed in green- 
houses where cut flowers 
and plants were grown 
for C'ovent (iarden mar- 
ket. In July, 1809, he 
came to America, at first 
securing work on a farm 
and later obtaining a posi- 
tion in the greenhouse 
depart m e n t of Thos. 
Meehan, at Cicrmantown, 
Pa. In 187-t he went to 
California, working at 
'first for Miller & Sievers, 
San Francisco, and later 
for Levi P. Saunderson, 
San Jose. A year later 
(LS7.5) he returned to 
Philadelphia, starting in 

business for himself and then going into partner- 
ship with John Burton, at Wyndmoor. The 
partnership was dissolved in 1887, John Burton 
taking over the original six acres, and Mr. Lons- 
dale locating on the six acres adjoining. 

In 1904 he gave up his Ijusiness to accept a 
position as head of the horticultural department 
in (lirard College, Philadelphia, being called in 
1909 to go to California to establish and equij) 
the great Floradale seed ranch of W. Atlee 
Burpee & Co., at Lonipoc, Santa Barbara 
County. He was a Justice of the Peace and a 
school director in Wyndmoor, as well as an 
officer of the Pennsylvania Horticultural So- 
ciety and the Florists' Club of Philadelphia, 
being also elected president of the S. A. F. and 
O. H. in 1S9.5. 

Edwin Lonsdale's work as a seed grower on 
the Pacific Coast has brought him pronii- 



trade. 





The late Edwin Lonsdale 



First Manager of the Seed Farm of W. .\tlee Burpee 
& Co. at Lompoc, California 



nently 

bt)tli in this country and 
abroad. The work he was 
called to undertake recjnired 
a man of exceptional char- 
acter and insight. It was no 
simple gardener's job to estab- 
lish and operate a large farm 
on which the largest mail- 
order seed house in the world depended for 
certain of its crops, at least partially. His 
work as a grower and 
executor were above ordi- 
nary commendation. 

In his home life he had 
.several trials, two daugh- 
ters having been drowned 
near Atlantic City years 
ago, and the third sole 
remaining child being 
taken away not long after 
by pneumonia. 

His wife attended him 
through all the days of 
his sickness and survives 
him. Since he fell sick, 
W. Atlee Burpee himself 
did everything he could 
to encourage Mr. Lons- 
dale to keep up his spirits. 
They were closely drawn 
to each other, and un- 
doubtedly the fine work 
that Edwin Lonsdale did 
in California was due not 
alone to his innate love 
of horticulture, but in 
I)art also to his regard for 
his employer. 

Edwin Lonsdale filled 
a prominent jiart for the 
uj)lift of horticulture in 
his day; and -while he 
will be mourned most by 
those wiio knew him best, 
many indeed, who only knew him by name and 
reputation, will feel the loss which horticulture 
has suffered through his death. 

The body was sent to Philadelphia for in- 
terment and was laid to rest in Ivy Hill Cemetery. 

The House of Burpee realizes that the place 
once occupied by Edwin Lonsdale will be ex- 
tremely difficult to fill. However, we will leave 
no stone unturned to carry forward the work 
so ably begun by the first manager of Flora- 
dale. 

Many improvements, such as irrigation, plow- 
ing by motor tractors, power spraying machinery, 
etc., have been installed, so that we anticipate 
even greater things at Floradale. 

Progress is our watchword. Only the best 
seeds that can be grown are offered in our 
Silent Salesman. 



39 



The New York Sun, Sunday, August 1 , 191 




Fordhook Farms 



The Sun garden man was 

in Philadelphia last week 

and of eovirse visited the eeie- 

l)rated Fordhootc Farms. It 

was the intention to make the 

trip to Fordhook in the un- 

eonventional railway train. 

A call at the Burpee seed 

warehou.se in Philadelphia 

resulted in a complete upset of all well-laid 

plans. All argument was unavailing, W. Atlee 



Surelynone Init the wealthy 
can afford to make the trip 
freciuently. Arriving at 
Fordhook, we first motored 
over the farms and then 
alighted to make a close in- 
spection of the growing crojjs 
and the extensive trial beds. 
In these Ijeds not only 
Burpee's seeds are tested, but seeds obtainec 
from other sources for comparison of result; 





The Oljice at I'ordhook l-arnis where reronis of trials and crops are kept. This little two-story building (nearly con- j 
cealed by trees) wa.s the original farmhouse at Fordhook. It was built about one hundred and 'thirty-three years asjo, 
long before we entered the see<l business, and when farmers and gardeners thought that they must saVe their'own .seeds 
to be sure of purity! At that time there was not a single seedsman, in anything like the modern sense, in America and 
but few in Europe. The .seed trade is of modern evolution, and it is acknowledged that nowhere has more been done to 
inspire confidence in "bought seeds" than at Fordhook Farms, so famous as the largest trial grounds in America 



Burpee insisting that we accompany him in the 
automobile in which he makes his daily trips 
between the home farms and the office. 

The trip was made through beautiful rolling 
country, the smooth roads lined with the mag- 
nificent park-like grounds of Philadelphia million- 
aires. It is historical ground practically the 
entire route, and as the distance from the city 
increa.ses the solid old mansions built previous 
to Revolutionary times are frequently met and 
apparently are in as good condition as when 
they were built. 

The old .system of operating the roads by 
private enterprise is still in force, and we passed 
so many tollgates that count of them was lost. 



in quality, size, season, color, vitality, &c. The 
trial grounds contain novelties that gardenert 
will he greatly interested in, chief of which 
is the Fordhook hybrid gladioli, flowerine 
the first season from seeds. The flowers arc 
as large as any of the older gladioli raised fromj 
bulbs, or more properly corms. The colors run 
from almost pure white and cream bordering 
closely on yellow through the \arious shades oi 
red, both in solid colors and striped, to deep 
maroon and shades of blue. 

A bedding plant that will prove of great value 
is a large-leaved, tall and robust coleiis two feet 
or more in height. The leaves are several times 
as large as the older popular bedding coleus and 



40 



plants arc niucli larger in circumference. 

he colors of the foliage are quite as varied as 

; the old varieties. This variety will prove 

?ry useful for large beds and for centers of 

ullage beds edged with the old smaller varieties, 

,ie outer edge kept trimmed back closely to 

\ve a pyramidal effect on a flat ground sur- 

ice. This doi-s away with the necessity of 

)unding up the earth in the bed before plant- 

t,ig. The advantage is that mounds dry out 

nicker than beds having a flat surface and 

uerefove require more water, and unless care- 

jilly and frequently watered the earth is washed 

'•om the higher portions, making the gardener 

ansideraljle trouble in ki'cpiug the beds in order. 

The flowers of tlu' giant scarlet zinnias re- 

mible the peony- flowered dahlias so closely 

) lat our parents, whose zinnias were always the 

ride of the garden, would not recognize the 

ew varieties as zinnias. In size and form they 

're more like dahlias than zinnias, while the 

jliage of the plants is attractive and the form 

f the plant graceful, a very decided impro\e- 

lenl over the old varieties. 

A beautiful pot plant almost unlcnown to 
aost gardeners was found in the Fordhook 
reenhouses, the fuchsia - flowered tuberous 
egonia. (lardcncM's wlio grow tuberous bego- 
ias v.ill find this a great acciuisltion. 
The collie kemiels and nms were full of bark- 
ag, frolicking dogs, and the poultry yards filled 
I'ith pure-l)red stock. 

The dinners served at Fordiiook are quite in 
eeping with the general manner in which the 



farm is conducted. Judging from tlie variety 
of vegetables and fruits served, everything in 
the trial beds was sampled, and while their 
appearance in the bed was most inviting, the 
quality proved by actual test, in this case, that 
appearance not always is deceiving. 

An appointment with friends in the city that 
evening was overcome by the hospitality of our 
host — and we reniained at Fordhook. One 
thing lacking there is quite noticeable, and that 
is the proverbial latchstring. 'i'he front door 
is always oi)en, so tlie latchstring is not re- 
quired. 

After dinner the guests scatter about the 
rambling old Colonial house. The neighbors 
dro]) in for a visit and tell of the peach orchard, 
some two hundred acres, a short disUince from 
Fordhook. The trees are just coming into 
bearing, and the first crop will run somewhere 
around eight to ten thou.sand Ijushels. Prof. 
Washburn, from the farm school, entertained 
with a talk on soils and fertilizers. 

Some of the guests kuive as the hour grows 
late, but it seems as though a multitude remain 
to be more comfortably cared for than at Phila- 
delphia's best hotels. In the morning breakfast 
is served in the breakfast room overlooking the 
beautiful valley and rolling hills beyond. All 
are urged to remain, and although it was sol- 
emnly agreed to leave promptly at 8 o'clock for 
an early start to the city it is half past 9 Ijefore 
we board the car and motor back to town. 
That day is gone! But the memory of a visit 
to Fordhook will linger long. 




The greenhouses at Fordhook, October 1.1910 In tl-f ,^-*""';7'^;;;^";^;;;!JX':«.f;^^;'^;^:;;;lt:l;r;;r ^^ 
are tested for vitality. Youag plants of certain veKetable.> and tl.,^^.r■, ar. aUo.UrU,! tor^ai.n.. 

Buying seeds must be entirely a matter of confidence. 

Every truck -patch, large or small, is the planter's •'trial ground. 

We desire that our seeds and not your patience shall be tried there. 

[411 





The lower range of greenhouses at Fonihook. M:<uy Iriak ..f l'r|,|„r^, I t'g I'lanls. et.-., have l.een '•potlcl up" and will 

soon be rea(K tor settuig out 












^\j^' 



iP2r^,=' 






-C 



.i- 



Another view of the lower range of greenhouses at Fordhook. We aniuially grow thousands of Uei 
trope, Petunia, and other tender annual plants inside for setting out in frames and fiek 

[42] 



jonia, Coleus, Helio- 
8 later on 



orty Years of Burpee Service — Anniversary Supplement 




The Seed Industry 

Its History and Development 

Reprinted from " The Booster; or Pennsylvania at The World's Pan- 
ama Pacific Exposition." Published by The Courier, Bristol, Pa. 



Philadelphia is recognized as 
the oldest and perhaps the 
foremost seed market in 
America. More than a cen- 
tury and a quarter ago there 
was established in Philadel- 
ia the original Landreth seed business. This 
n was founded by David Landreth and has 



Go where you will, visit any 
seed concern, and in almost 
every one you will find a man 
who at some time or other in 
his career has had a portion of 
his training in Philadelphia. 
So that while lieing the oldest and also the lead- 
ing seed market of America, Philadelphia and 





he potting-shed at Fordhook. The men are potting pepper and other vegetable plants for setting out in the fields to 

produce seed 



ssed down through generation after genenition 
til the present day. The firm is now located 
Bristol, Pa., and enjoys the distinction of 
ng a meml)er of an organization of century- 
i concerns. 

Eastern Pennsylvania has contributed much 
)re than the se\-eral firms who have engaged in 
' seed business. Men trained in her many estab- 
iments have gone out to all sections of the 
mtry. These trained men have been in great 
•nand by seed concerns in \-arious sections, 
me have gone to the Agricultural Department 
Washington, others have engaged in the seed 
siness for themselves, while others have given 
?ir knowledge and effort to build up other or- 
aizations in the same line. 



Pennsyh'ania liave left their mark on all sections 
where the seed industry has been developed to 
any considerable extent. 

Philadelphia has more successful concerns 
engaged in the seed business than any other city 
in the United States, regardless of size. Such 
firms as Landreth, Burpee, Buist, Dreer, Maule, 
Michell, Johnson, Stokes, Moore, Simon, Ely, 
Waterer and Mingle all enjoy splendid busi- 
nesses built up along individual lines. 

The Henry A. Dreer business, founded many 
years ago, has grown to be one of the world's 
largest nursery and seed concerns. 

Robert Buist built up one of the most success- 
ful businesses in Philadelphia and died a very 
wealthy man. 



43 




Frames to the south of the lower range of greenhouses 
Here are raised many seedlings for transplanting to the fields 




Frames north of the greenhouses. From a photograph taken in May 
[44 1 



Wm. Henry Maule developed a great busi- 
less as a mail-order seedsman, anrl since his 
leath the l)usiness has been conducted by an or- 
ganization of his former associates and is to-day 
:nowa as Wm. Henry Maule, Inc. 

In the house of Burpee, Philadelphia has the 
Vorld's greatest mail-order seed business. This 



concern spares no expense to give the best serv- 
ice possible. The thousands of trials, made for 
the sole purpose of knowing the character of 
every stock sold, as well as the vitality, enables 
the house of Burpee to ^ell only the best seeds 
of known quality. 

An inspection of the great warehouses in 












V portion of the Trial Cirouud.s at fordhook. 



The different seed sample 
above the soil 



have been sown and many plants are showing 



vonderful business has been built about a single 
dea of right service and a direct deal between 
grower and planter. 

In order to describe to our readers the growth 
)f the seed industry, we have singled out the 
'irm of VV. Atlee Burpee & Co., briefly describing 
he methods and operations which have made 
his firm such a success. 

\V. Atlee Burpee & Co. was established in 
1876 by W. Atlee Burpee, whose broad-minded 
personality is alone responsible for the develop- 
nent of a business from a very modest begimiing 
:o a vast organization, owning its own farms in 
Vew Jersey, Pennsylvania and California, and 
■mploying himdreds of men and women. 

Thousands of acres in many countries con- 
ribute their share to the enormous stocks of 
iced handled by the house of Burpee. 

It is said that this concern sends its crop in- 
spectors into sections tliat aggregate more than 
:hirty thousand miles of travel each year. This is 
nerely a detail of this ideal service which be- 
?omes even more apparent when one considers 
Lhis house does not send a single mile to solicit 
m order. 

A trip to Fordhook Farms, America's great- 
est trial grounds, convinces the visitor that this 



Philadelphia shows hundreds of employees busy 
on the thousands of orders that come in daily in 
season. The latest ecjuipment in machinery fur- 
nishes accuracy in detail in the matter of pack- 
ing the seeds, while bright, cheery quarters con- 
tribute their share in giving Burpee .service to 
the many thousands of customers. 

Every comfort is provided for the workers 
— rest rooms, reading rooms, all the latest mag- 
azines and papers, a dining room where a lunch 
of the best quality may be purchased for a few 
cents, umbrellas in case of rain, first aid if acci- 
dents occur, are just a part of the service building 
policy. 

W. Atlee Burpee & Co. have customers in 
almost every coimtry in the world. In 1!)14 they 
distributed more than a million catalogs, which 
in itself required an outlay of $30,000 to $35,000 
for postage alone. These catalogs required 
almost half a million pounds of paper. 

This concern maintains a printing plant that 
prints millions of seed bags, labels, etc. 

The machines that fill and seal the packets 
are almost human in their precision and much 
faster than hand work. 

Many articles have been written about this 
business, but none is better than the tribute of 



45 



the late Elbert Hubbard when he wrote in " The 
Fra": "If there is any one man in America, 
more than another, who is making the waste 
places green and the desert to blossom like the 
rose, that man is W. Atlee Burpee, seedsman 
magnus, gentleman superbus." 

So that we of Pennsylvania are justly proud 
of the development of the seed business; we are 



proud of America's oldest seed establishment; 
we are proud of the world's greatest mail-order 
seed business, for we recognize that agriculture 
is the fundamental source of all wealth; and 
realizing the very important part played by the 
seedsman, we are proud to be recognized as 
one of the leading States in this great business 
of seeds. 




Lettuce trials at Fordhook, a June photograph 



A CORDIAL INVITATION. — Planters who may visit Philadelphia are invited to inspect the Bur- 
pee Buildings, where we shall be pleased to explain the workings of the various departments. We 
are glad, also, during spring, summer, and autumn, to have our customers examine the crops and 
trials at Fordhook Farms. Wednesday is "Visitors' Day," but customers from a distance can ob- 
tain permits at our Philadelphia office for any other weekday. There is no other place in America 
where such a complete assortment of all varieties can be seen growing each season 




A panoramic view of the main portion of the Trial Grounds at Fordhook. Many large trials, such as Cabbage, Peas, 
Beans, Corn, Squashes, Pumpkins and other crops that require large area, are conducted in other sections of the farm. In 
the distance at the top of the hill may be seen "The Woods." Immediately below this woods are located the poultry 

yards and kennels 

[4G] 





I 11. uK iriiU ..I . il,!.,-, -, .,1 I ..r.llHM.k. |->.,i,, ;i i-li-l ■■-'■■■U'li I ^ 
In order to verify our early trials, two separate trial' are made, one early and one late. If any undue advantage is to be 
had by reason of different seasons it is shown up in one or the other of these trials 




The late trials of cabbages (in a different field from the above) as they appeared at FurJljuok, I. (ken in October 

[47] 




From the Atlantic to 
the Pacific Burpee's 
FORDHOOK FARMS 
are famous as the 
largest Trial Grounds 
in America 



The illustnition to the left gives a general 
view, looking northeast, of the main por- 
tion of the Trial Grounds at Fordhook 



From the Atlantic 

Professor Johnson, of " The 
American Agriculturist," perform- 
ed a simihir office on behalf of the 
members of the agricultural and 
horticultural press present. Mr. 
Johnson said that the day had 
been one rare treat. ... In 
speaking of the immensity of the 
trial groimds at Fordhook, Pro- 
fessor Johnson stated that those 
present would take home a lesson 
which would be remembered for 
many years. There was not an 
experiment station in the United 
States, supported by State or 
national legislation, that had any- 
thing like the variety of tests that 
were conducted on the Fordhook 
Farms. lie said this is all fair- 
ness to the splendid work of the 

experiment stations 

— Kxtract from an Editorial ac- 
count of "A Field Day at Ford- 
hook," which appeared in "The 
Florists" Exchange," Netv York. 



From the Pacific 

A carefid seedsman's experi- 
ment grounds, like yours, it seems 
to me, are far more useful than 
any of the colleges or public ex- 
periment stations, as it is all j)rac- 
tical work. Your Fordhook Trial 
Grounds were the best of all my 
Eastern object-lessons, and I had 
many of them. I had no idea of 
their extent and value, not only 
to yourself, but to every one of 
your customers, and eventually 
to every one who cultivates the 
soil. — Thus wrote Luther Bur- 
bank, "The Wizard of Horticul- 
ture," from Santa Rosa, California, 
vpon his return from an extended 
Eastern trip. 




Pansy trials at Fordhook. From an October photograph 



These old favorites are always greatly admired by all visitors to Fordhook. Pansies, as may be indicated l)y the number 
of seed trials here, are a leading specialty; 176 are on trial for purity of stock and value of variety. Not that there are 
that number of distinct varieties, but, wherever obtainable, seed is secured and tried out, and in this way only the very 

best is kept in stock for our trade 




A portion of the trials of aiuuials 

[491 




^A,* . 



Beet and carrot trials at Fordhook. From a June photograph 

Beet and carrot trials are conducted on the hilltop, where same may he planted early, because the nature of the soil ad- 
mits of the roots penetrating easily and the frost leaves earlier here than it does below, where the soil is more or less tena- 
cious in its character. These important vegetables occupy a large area at Fordhook each year. Careful notes are made 

covering all variations and characteristics 




4 § 



^_V-^*(SJ«-*«>^^_ 



*^I^ ^ * 



f^4 




^ 



\1?^..3% 



.Vnother field of early cabbage trials at Fordhook 
[50 1 




Hilt and carrot trials made during 1915 

Every variation in color of leaf or root, height of Krowth, shape of leaves, in fact every characteristic, is recorded. 

These notes made year after year are the .signs by which we know that every stock is true in all respects. Until they are 

proved, the seeds are never packed. Fordhook Farms must place the seal of approval before the seeds are sent out 





A partial view of the trials of annual flowers. The same care in making notes on : 
insures the finest strains that can be grown 



jwers as in notes on vegetables 




A |j:irli,il \i(\v of the trials of perennials 

[521 




Early Irial nf lilliiir at Kordhook, shown above in Trial Groun<K \ i . oml In il of kttiK 

seiusou so that we may prove that under different conditions the strains will bold up to their \d 



s made later in the 
tal characteristics 



The illustraticjn below shows the sweet pea trials at Fordhook. Sweet peas have long been a leading specialty with the 
House of Hnrpee, our firm having been among the t:rst to take this popular annual in hand. We have developed and in- 
tnxluccd many of the best varieties in cultivation to-day. We have prepared a special book on sweet peas entitled 
"Sweet Peiis l'p-lo-l)ate." All lovers of these charming flowers shoulii have this book. Thousands of trials are made 
each year, and novelties are here proved in order that we may retain our title of "American Headquarters for Sweet Peas" 





Inspecting the irrigating system in main Trial Grounds at Fonihook. ( )ne of the illustrations in "" The Florists Exchange, " 

New York, July -i, 1910 



Fordhook is visited by many interested persons each year. Many of the greatest agricultural and horticultural experts 
and authorities have honored us and all have been unanimous in their praise of the thorough methods and practice at 
Fordhook. The groups shown in these pictures are visiting Seedsmen, delegates to the Convention of the American Seed 

Trade Association 




Inspecting trials of grasses and forage plants. From "The Florists' Exchange," July 'i, 1910 

154] 



From the Journal of The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, February, 1915 




W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 



The man who can look 

ii])(>n the seeds ami tell 

which will grow and which 

will not is one of the world's 

hcnet'actors. Mankind at no 

time has more than eight 

months" provisions ahead. 

Siiouid all the crops of the 

earth fail in a single season, 

onr farmers become possessed 

f improvidence and fail to keep 



and the enthusiasm of the 
founder of the House of 
Burpee. At the seed farms 
and experimental stations 
located at Fordhook, Pa., 
Sunnyhrook, N. J., and Flora- 
dale, Cal., e\ery man is made 
to feel that his work is imi)or- 
tant to the ultimate success 
of the business. Every one gets some of 




Mr. 



Burpee's enthusiasm and the result is a splen- 




The Advertising Department. Here are prepared the advertisements that are printed in many magazines. Records of 
magazine returns are tcept here; also a complete file of all the magazines u.sed 



a stock of seed for the next planting-time 
civilization would be swept out of existence in 
less than a year. 

In the warehouse of the W. Atlee Burpee Com- 
pany, at P'ifth and Buttonwood Streets, is 
stored in embryo the sustenance of a large por- 
tion of the earth's inhabitants, the latent energy 
that drives the world's commerce and industries. 

Starting with a modest business in 187G, the 
House of Burpee has grown into the greatest 
mail-order seed house in the world. Like many 
other Philadel])hia enterprises this establish- 
ment is of international importance. Mr. Bur- 
pee will tell you that he has built up this great 
business by advertising, and to a great extent 
this is so, but back of it all has been the integrity 



didly organized machine — a business that is 
constantly growing, and growing upon the most 
solifl basis that it is possible to put under any 
business; namely, confidence in the quality of 
the products turned out. Burpee's seeds grow; 
this fact is known the world over, and it is not 
by any chance that this is brought about. 

Naturally, the Burpee farms could not raise 
a hundreth part of the seeds the firm sells. 
Contracts for the growing of seeds are gi^•en out 
two and three years ahead of selling dates. 
These crops, located in different parts of the 
world where the finest results are obtainable, 
are carefidly watched by the Burpee house 
and reports made of their condition and de- 
velopment. Unless they are fully "Burpee 



55 




Ready to mail. These mail sacks con- 
tained more than twenty-seven thousand 
(^27,596) copies of Burpee's Annual, 
mailed on that one day. 1 he illustration 
to the left shows a wagon load of mail 
leaving the York Street side of the Burpee 
liuihHiik's. Some idea of the extent of 
ci\ir lm-,iness may be had from the fact 
th.it Ml 1915 the editions — for Winter and 
Spring —of our seed catalogs totaled one 
nnlliiin ninety-four thousand (l,09-t,3'25) 
copies. Besides these catalogs there were 
distributed millions of circulars and many 
thousand copies of our instructive leaflets 
on culture, making in all the greatest 
output of original literature on horticul- 
ture ever circulated in a single season 
by any one house in the world 



The printing department shown in the 
illustration to the right is a very busy part 
of the Burpee business. Many small or 
"rush"' jobs are here handled with a 
speed and care that would be wellnigh 
impossil)le if these same jobs were sent 
out to a regulation printshop 






"T^ 


1 


— , 




1 .\m 


iJI'iil-i j*'^^'*W 


mi^ 


A 


1 








*" ' -'■ '^Vd^^ - ■■■SrSifc" 


rA*"-- 


m 


.J 1 

/ 1 


-\'J^^ B mKi 


M 


■ 




■■*'■. ... 


i 




^ ^ 





Tlif pruiliiii.' roi.m. Ilcrr an- priiilril inilli.iti^ nf liai,'s ;iiicl sin:il! circulars. 

The catalogs and books arc printed now, as they lui\'c been for more than 

thirty-five years, by W'm. F. Fell Co., Philadelphia 



This illustration shows the folding machine 
on which are folded not only order sheets but 
hundreds of thousands of Leaflets on Culture. 
These are distributed free with orders upon 
request. Nearly every question you can ask 
on culture is answered in one of our special 
leaflets 





.'lie \ct:ctatilr .^ccd >tock Li-dger, shown above, is kept 
on the fourth floor, so as to be convenient for the charges 
made from the bulk seed stored on the upper floors of the 
original Burpee building and in the warehouse on the 
south. A ledger account is kept with each variety of seed, 
and at any time we can tell just what stock was used to fill 
a given order. A similar stock ledger is kept with flower 
seeds, but this is kept in the flower seed department on the 
second floor 



The ingeniously constructed and delicately adjusted 
machines for measuring seeds and putting them in sacks 
of all sizes, sealing the sacks and counting them into boxes 
placed there to receive them, are marvels of labor-saving 
devices, without which so large a business as is done here 
in a season could not be transacted by five times the 
number of present employees — over three hundred in the 
height of the season 



The packet ing m.ichines 



57' 



Standard" in quality the entire crop is rejected. 
Even after the seeds are deHvered in bulk to 
the Burpee warehouses, thorough tests are made 
before they are packed for retail and wholesale 
selling. 

A sample of each lot of seed thus produced 
is shipped to the Burpee farms and the firm's 
personal trials made. The crop must be pure, 
sturdy, full of vitality, true to the strain. Nine 
times out of ten results confirm the original 
grower's statement. But if a bad streak does 
develop, the seed is discarded. 

By the stock number originally given the 
seed it can be traced throughout the establish- 
ment. 

Mr. Burpee knows all that it is humanly pos- 
sible for anyone to know about the mystery of 
the seed from the moment that it is gathered 
until it is placed in the package and sent to its 
destination. When a man, it matters not in 
what part of the world he may be, receives his 
little consignment of seed, upon which is de- 
pendent his next season's crop and his livelihood 
and that of his family, the name of Burpee on 
the package inspires him with confidence in a 
successful crop. 



carefully, the proper seed numbers noted, and 
the clerks then go along the rows of racks and 
assemble the seeds required. Each order is 
checked twice, for there must be no mistakes. 
The order may come from South Africa, it may 
have been a month since the customer has writ- 
ten and it may be another month beiore he 
receives the seed, and a mistake could not be 
rectified in time for the planting season. Up- 
ward of four thousand orders are received 
every day, practically all of them containing 
remittances from twenty-five cents to a hundred 
dollars or more, and every order, if possible, is 
filled before the close of business on the day it is 
received. In the busy seasons it takes over 
three hundred people working steadily to handle 
the orders. 

In describing the methods of keeping the 
record of the seeds, an article appearing in the 
Florists' Exchange a few years ago included 
the following description: 

The bookkeeping, which term naturally in^ 
eludes the system adopted for the handling of 
the mail orders as well as for the ledgers which 
record the heavier items of the business, is con- 
ducted on a wonderful system, geared and closely 




lllll^t^all 



pi. 



_'rnp(i. allows a portion of one 



Packeting and scalini,' the pop\ihir "Sci-cl^ thai (iniw. " 

of our seed-paperiiii; rooiiiv an the lliinl llimr. Here, hy llii' ili'fl lianii^ of uillinj,' women workers, anil with the aid of 

seed-papcriug machines run by electric power, millions of retail packets, ounces, quarter pounds, pints, and quarts are 

neatly prepared. Pecks and bushels (sealed with our leaden seal) are filled by men on another floor 



The same thoroughness and completeness 
of method that is applied in the production of 
the seed is carried out in their distribution. 
The different seeds are sealed in paper packets 
and distributed in racks which bear the name 
of the variety of seed and its designated num- 
ber. The orders as they come in are gone o\er 



interwoven the one into the other like the works 
of a first-class watch, so that but a moment is 
recjuired to ascertain any item in connection with 
any transaction whatsoever, the detail work 
being recorded so minutely that it is possible 
to tell at a glance, for instance, the vitality test 
and who grew, say, the Parsley seed purchased 



58 



by John Smith, of Prescott, Ariz., a month or 
a year previous. 

From tlie sets of books dedicated to stocks 
on hand may be ascertained at any moment 
the vitaUty test, the quantity of a certain stock 
received from the Burpee farm on which it 
was raised, or the different growers from whom 
it w'as procured, the amoimt sold, and the quan- 
tity remaining on hand, together with the num- 
ber of packets and subdivisions of ounces, 
pounds, sacks, etc., into which it has been 
divided for retail and wholesale trade. And so 
on throughout the entire syst(Mn of bookkeeping. 




In days of old, members of the royal families 
numbered among their court attaches gardeners 
who devoted all their time to growing such 
delicacies as were thought fit to grace the king's 
table, and rare flowers to adorn the royal gardens. 
W. Atlee Burpee is the worlds gardener. 
Thanks to the energy and the skill of this man, 
the most luscious fruits and vegetables are 
brought within the reach of everyone, and many 
beds of beautiful flowers grace gardens, rich or 
humble, in practically every ciuarter of the earth. 

The House of Burpee has done much to spread 
the fame of Philadel])hia and Philadelphia 
enterprise throughout the world. 



A corner in the storage-room. 
Here are stored filled packets, 
ounces, quarter-pound, half- 
pound, pound, pint and quart 
sealed packages by the hun- 
dreds of thousands 



Below is shown one of the 
Bulk Warehouses, York Ave- 
nue below the main Burpee 
Buildings 



We are Specialists 
in Seeds 

Our entire attention is de- 
voted to producing and dis- 
tributing Seeds, — Seeds 
only and only Seeds of the 
Best Quality. We aim to 
do fins one thing iriil. — 
consequently do not handle 
plants, small fruits, nursery 
stock, nor other kindred 
lines, — such as fertilizers, 
implements, and poultry 
supplies. We shall be 
pleased to have your order 
for Seeds and linow that we 
can serve you well! We 
shall be pleased also to give 
any advice in our power as 
to your other horticultural 
requirements. 

At the Burpee Build- 
ings we are glad to welcome 
customers who may ha\'e 
occasion to visit Philadel- 
phia and to extend also an 
invitation to inspect our 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey 
and California Farms tluring the gmwiiig scasoi 
and it is always a pleasure to show everything 
on our farms. 




There is nothinj 
of interest, both 



; to conceal in our business, 

in the city warehouses and 

W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 



59 



Extracts from The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 1 , 1911 



Busy Days at the Home of "Seeds That Grow" 




E.ith day the mails bring between three and 
se\en thousand orders. And a day's work 
in the ca'ihier's registry and order depart- 
ments is the mail of that particular day, which 
1^ prepared for filling and shipping next day. 
\ rule of the business, rarely broken, is that 
an order must be shipped within H hours of 
lt^ receipt. Ten cashiers were opening the 
mails the morning the party visited the 
establishuieiit 



Opening the Mail 

The method of taking care of mail orders is an interesting one 
to follow from the moment when an order is received until 
ready to leave the building by mail, express or freight. Cut 
into the table in front of the cashier and each assistant are 
three slits for remittances, one each for stamps, checks and 
money orders. The slits lead to large cans, which are emptied 
later in the day. The amount each envelope contained is care- 
fully marked on the accompanying order slip, which later finds 
its way to an adding machine, where the totals of the orders 
must tally with the remittances taken from the boxes 




Portion of the Main Office. These clerks are engaged in entering the number and amount of the orders on the cards 

[60] 




Assorting orders by States as received from the mail room. 
These orders are then booked by States, the post-oftices 
being arranged alphabelically by the card system, '^hi^ 
segregation by States allows the use of addressing machines, 
as shown in the picture below. Cireater speed an'! accuracy 
are obtained by the use of these machines. The addres>) 
cards are much easier read when so addressed than when 
written by hand. VVe provide the latest and most accurate 
machinery so as to render the best possible seed-servi<-e 




Ihr iiia.liiiir -.hewn III 111.' illii-lrali..ii above is an 

"arithmometer," or adding inacliine. These machines 

are almost indispensable in a business where accuracy 

and speed are required 



[61 J 



In the illustration to the left is shown the 
accounting and bookkeeping depart- 
ment. Here are handled all charge 
orders; credits are passed; accounts 
opened and charged, and all clerical 
work in connection with such orders is 
performed 




The stenographers at the typewriters in a light, airy room adjoining the main office. We never annoy customers 
with " follow-up " letters, but are always prompt to answer any inquiries either for special quotations or further 

information as to varieties or culture 

fC2l 



The illustration to the left shows clerks 
addressing bags for the Burpee Annual to 
daily applicants. Frequently thousands 
of applications are received in one day. 
The Burpee Annual, while free to all, is 
ne\er mailed unsolicited, except to cus- 
tomers of record 




The young lady at the left is operating an adding machine, 
' her work verifies the amounts entered on the order 
heets. These machines are mechanically accurate; errors 
are practically impossible 





i ~ ' ~ ~ "" 



Interior views. The illustration to the 
left shows two clerks booking freight and 
express orders. Orders for seeds that are 
to go by freight or express are sorted from 
the orders to go by mail, given a different 
set of numbers, and filled on the fourth 
floor of the Burpee Buildings entirely 
separate from the mail orders, which are 
filled on the second floor. An acknowl- 
edgment by mail is made of all freight and 
express orders the day they are received 




An aisle in the Vegetable mail-order department. In this department no seeds in bulk are kept at all. All packages 

are done up in advance and the girls can pick them out of the various compartments readily and without any possibility 

of getting the wrong seed, which might happen did they go to bulk drawers. We use every known safeguard that 

constant care and ample capital can secure to reduce to a minimum the possibility of mistakes 

[64 1 




1 )r|i;irl nil 111. Each ordor clerk is pnnidcii with a desk 
,■ I.) Ii. r lor lilHng. The baskets are in turn p.issed to 



Here is sh..uii a rou of nrdrr desks in the Veyelahle Mail-oi 

whore she may asseml.le and arranK'e in baskets the orders that corn.' lo li. r lor limng. l ne uasKeis are in mrn passe.i 
the checkers, where all orders are doulile-checke<l. This method of double-checking reduces the [xissibihty ot error t 
minimum, and while costly it gives the satisfaction of having rendered the best possible service 




The illustration above shows another time-saving duplicate 

department where orders for packets amounting only to one 

dollar or less are filled 



The illustration iinniediately aboveshows an aisle of order 
desks in the mail-order department on the second floor 



65 




This illustration to the left shows the mak- 
ing; ready of cardboard boxes which come 
in flat and are then shaped to hold the 
jiackets and packages of seed to be filled 
ill the mail-order department. Many 
thousands are required and this work is 
done before the busy season begins 



Thi^ illii^lr,.linii totlic riuht >lio«, ..ik- m.I. 
of a chcckinfj-table at which ten checker^ 
work in pairs facing each other. All our 
energies are directed to filling mail orders 
and considering promptness and accur.u \ 
in executing your commands, together witli 
quality of seeds, you cannot be ser\tcl 
better anywhere 

Mr. a. T. De La Mare, the editor 
of " The Florists' Exchange," New York, 
after a personal visit of inspection, wrote. 
A word as to the employees, the great 
majority of whom are young women. It 
would seem as though the Burpee firm had 
in their employ all the good-looking young 
women of Philadelphia; possibly the rea- 
son for this consists in the fact that they 
are treated not only with the greatest 
courtesy b.v the heads of departments, but 
that their wellbeing in work hours is care- 
fully provided for. On the third floor of 
the building, facing on three streets, is a 
large airy dining and rest room, provided 
expressly for these young women, and here 
they lunch in comfort and at cost price. 
Racks for both men and women are pro- 
vided wherein they can store their street 
clothes and keep them under lock and key. 
Large toilet rooms, neat as a new pin, are 
to be found on every floor. 

The dining and rest rooms are shown below 



[66 




and stamping, as shown in lower picture 
[671 




Views in the flower seed department. The aisle shown in 
the illustration is in the bulk or wholesale division of 
the flower seed department. Here is kept bulk flower 
seed, and all orders for large quantities are handled here 





piiliire above shows order clerks engagtM 

tilling orders in the mail-order division of the 

flower seed department. Desks are provided here 

the same as in the vegetable seed department 



The illu-traliou above shows llu- ordyr ,ui.l 
assembling tables in the wholesale division 
of the flower seed department. We use 
very delicate and accurate scales, as many 
varieties of flower seeds are exceedingly 
valuable and great care is demanded. The 
illustration to the right shows the double- 
checking desks in the flower seed depart- 
ment 



Checking orders for flower seeds 



68 




Children's garden packets have become so popular with all our 

young friends that the department shown in the picture below, and 

which is located upon the third floor, is devoted entirely to filling 

the orders for these special children's packets 



The illustration above shows a corner where 

•are filled many of the orders for s|iccial 

varieties of packet seeds offered inouraiKer- 

lisemenls 





The picture to the left shows a part of the 
checkiuf,' desks in the wholesale depart- 
ment. Here also is shown a portion of the 
tags that are held, already printed with 
names and addresses, so as to avoid any 
errors in directing and shipping. No de- 
tail is too small in the Burpee business. 
Our aim is to render the best possible 
service 



The illustration to the right shows a portion 
of the wholesale department. The reason 
why Burpee's Seeds are not sold more 
generall.v at wholesale is because of their 
necessarily higher cost. We never send 
out travelers to solicit orders either at 
wholesale or retail. We do supply, how- 
ever, quite a number of the better class of 
dealers, but only with seeds in sealed pack- 
ages. In other words, Burpee's Seeds are 
sold in any quantity, but only under seal 




\t the left is a corner in the wholesale 
rtinent. Here the clerical work 
^^ary in filling and directing whole- 
orders is done. Tags and address 
I ard-, for a large list of regular customers 
.jrc printed before the busy season. This 
fai ilitates the rapid filling and correct 
dispatch of such orders 




[70] 




A part of the bulb cellar-.. Here arc Nton.! Ihi rootsot I ami l,. Dahlias, Tritiimas, liiearvillea. anil the hullis cl Bet;uiiia», 

Lihes, Tuberoses, (Jladioli, and man\ other summer-ftowenns; varieties. As the bulbs come in from the farms they are 

carefull.v stored in shding racks that afford ideal storage conditions. The illustration below is the order-filling room of the 

Bulb Department, where men only are employed 





Much clerical work must be performed in connec- 
tion with orders even after the preliminary work 
done in the main offices. The desks shown in the 
illustration to the left are located in the freight and 
express department ou the fourth floor and are 
devoted to the clerical work of that department 



"^^"^ 



The illiistrati(>n to the right shows the flower seed en 
on the fourth floor. Here is carried a duplicate stock • 
ail tloncr seeds in packets for convenience in tillir 
freight and express orders. Orders for larger quant il i^ 
of flower seeds are filled in the regular seed departim i 
on second floor 





One of the fourth floor rooms for express and freight orders. Only men are employed in the express and freight order 
departments. While all regular quantities, from packets and pounds to quarts and pecks, are done up ahead in sealed 
packages, yet there are also received daily orders for a number of pounds or bushels that must be put up specially and 

sealed 

[72] 




Some i.f lli..li-l. 



nod roomy desk where 



The ilUistration to the left shows another section of 

the order desks in the freight and express order 

department. On these desks the orders are assembled 

previous to going to the checker's table 




The small illustration above shows 
several clerks making ready packages 
for the freight and express order de- 
partment after they have been checked 
and before they are ready to be boxed. 
The illustration to the left shows ship- 
ments that have been checked and 
packed being removed to the shipping 
floors shown on pages 75 and 76 



Before packing all freight orders are finally checked 
and passed by the expert checker who works in the 
department shown in the picture to the right. Every 
safeguard that makes for accuracy and perfection of 
sers'ice is provided 





The illustration to left shows boxes for 
freight and express orders, which are 
made for us by a manufacturer a block 
below, and then delivered in the area- 
way, to be sent up by one of the ele- 
vators 




The illustrations above are views in the Freight and Express Order Departiiifnt. which Iwith the wholesale) occupies 

the entire fourth floor of the first Burpee building. Only men and boys are employed in this department. Before 

the orders are finally packed, they are checked independent of the actual filling of the orders 

[741 



niiiii "1 




The small illustration to the left shows one of the eleva- 
tors from the fourth floor whieh has just arrived at the 
courtyard with boxes and packages of seeds ready to be 
checked off and loaded by the shipping department. 
Hundreds of packages are dispatched daily by express and 
freight 



The illustration at right shows the shipping 
clerk's office on York Avenue side. Kach day the 
mstonier whose order has been filled by freight (>r 
express is notifi«'d by mail of the shipment, while, 
d{ course, bills of lailing are also mailiMl ti; those 
whose seeds have been forwarded by freight 




The lower pi<ture shows a shipping floi 
Express wai 



devot 



■d entirely to shipping by express. No freight is handled on this floor. 
g loaded may be seen through the open doors 





Shipments ready to go by freight. This floor is devoted to freight shipments and is entirely separate from the floor shown 
on page 75. For work on orders between the first sorting into States and the final shipment, see other illustrations from 

photographs on preceding pages 



The illustration to the right shows a 
truck loaded with freight shipments 
that are billed to customers in all 
parts of the U. S. Many such loads 
leave the Burpee buildings each day 
during the busy season 




The illustration to left pictures two 
express wagons loading with express 
shipments. Three such wagons can 
be loaded at one time from this floor 



[76] 



^he Queen and Court Chronicle, London, England, Saturday, July 25, 1915 




The Garden Column 

The National Sweet Pea Show- 
Impressions and Reflections 



The Foiirtomth Animal Show 
of the National Sweet Pea 
Society was held in R. LI. S. 
Hall on Thursday, July 16th, 
and was followed in the 
evening by a dinner at the 
lotel Windsor, with the President, Mr. Hugh 
:)i(kson, in the chair, and with Mr. W . Atlee 
Jurpee, of Philadelphia, as its most honored 
;uest. In one of the after-dinner speeches it 
vas jokingly suggested that with this gentle- 
nan and others from America present, the 
itle might almost be changed to "Inter- 
lational." The speaker voiced in this word 
,vhat had passed through my mind earlier in 
he day as I saw two of the heads of the cele- 
jraled firm of Vilmorin, Andrieux and ( o., 
)f Paris, making a careful inspection of the 
exhibits, and heard not just once but several 
imes during the course of the afternofui 
iccents of unmistakable continental ongm 
ningling with the more familiar Irish, Scotch 
anirWelsh of our own tight little islands. 
Little did the Sicilian monk, Cupani, imagme 
A-hen he sent a few seeds of his newly found 
oea to England in l(i99, what a wonderful 
■uture was before it two centuries hence. 
For the last ten years, if not for longer, it 
lias been the most popular flower grown in 
British gardens. To find a parallel we would 
have to go back to dahlia times, but even 
that old charmer's attractions w;ould have 
paled before those of its modern rival. 

We are so accustomed to find rows of sweet 
peas in gardens of every description that the 
sight does not surprise us as it should do. AH 
the same it is an amazing fact, and I would like 
ito quote at great length from a most interest- 
ing and instructive paper read by Mr. J. S. 
Brunton on tlie Sweet Pea Industry after tlie 
last general meeting of the Society in ()ct()l)er, 
li)i;5 Two or three extracts, however, must 
suffice. "California's 3000 acres should pro- 
duce 005 tons of seed. This seems almost in- 
credible, but when we consider . . . that 
one firm alone has handled 134 tons of seed 
in a season, it may remove a little of our in- 
credulitv; but we cannot cease to wonder and 
to ask,\vhere do they all go to?" A Covent 
Garden firm courteously gave Mr. Brunton the 
following statistics of their sales for the week 
en.ling June 4, 1913, as follows: Number of dis- 
budded bunches 7554, value £104; number of 
ortlinary bunches 19,792, value £94. They 
further' state "in a few years the ordinary 
bunch will be unknown, as the demand all 
through last season for disbudded bunches was 
greater than the supply, while at^ tinies the 
ordinary grades were unsalable. Ot the 
modern but verv useful development, the sale 
of small seedlings in pots, the writer says: 



"This system has become 
quite general . . . the 
largest business lies with a 
nurseryman in the north of 
London, who sows from 
cwt. to 7 cwt. of seed in this 
manner each season." To be still further im- 
pressed, we must remember that the National 
Show is but one, although the largest, of a hun- 





Mi 



, W. Atlee Burpee, Philadelphia, U. S. A. Ropnidiiced from 
illustration in "The Queen 

dred and thirtv jjrofessedly devoted to sweet 
p(>as, and that over and above all these, there 
are all the classes given up to them in our 
general horticultural schedules. The United 
Kingdom is the sweet pea country of the world, 
and the great London Show has, I believe, no 
serious rival. Small wonder, then, that Mr. W. 
\tlee Burpee came all the way from the States 
to visit us. and that M. Phililipe de \ilmorin 
traveled from Paris for the same purpose. 
I am sure their likenesses will interest readers. 
Mr. Burpee is head of the largest postal 
seed business in America. Sweet peas are 
one of his firm's specialties; 180 acres ot them 
are grown for see<l. The last letter Henry 
Eckford wrote was addressed to him. Blaiiche 
Burpee we older men remember as <me of the 
best grandiflora or smooth standard whites 
before the coming of Dorothy Eckford. His 



[77' 



King White is claimed to be the white of the 
future. Last week he bought from Mr. Mal- 
colm, the raiser, the stock of that fine 1913 silver 
medal variety "Fiery Cross" — it is a brilliant 
cerise crimson. He returns home this week to 
resume the cares of his huge business. The otlier 
distinguished horticulturist whose picture I ;im 
glad to li,i\'(' st-(un'(l is M. Plulipiic Mhnorin. 




Sweet Pea — Margaret Atlee. Reproduced from illustration 
"The Queen" 



France has not yet gone in for sweet peas as 
we have, although I know Messrs. Clarke & Sons, 
of Dover, have tried the experiment of issuing 
a French list. That not only the head (M. P. 
Vilmorin), but also a junior member of the firm 
of Mlmorin, Andrieux and Co., shoidd come over 
to our show is significant, for no European firm 
is its superior in size or in reputation. Perhaps 
France is at last waking up. Perhaps Bel- 
giiun is too. In the great exhibition of Ghent 
this last Spring, sweet peas along with car- 
nations and roses were the chief glories of the 
show. What now did these notable visitors 
.see on this occasion in Vincent Square? A 
fine show, but by no means the best of the 
fourteen the society has held. Considering 
the hot and dry time which we have gone 
through in the growing season, the flowers 
that were staged surprised not only Mr. Burpee 
but also Mr. Hugh Dickson, the president, 
and Mr. William Cutlibertson, of Dobbic's. 
Each of these three gentlemen told mc this, and 
no three opinions are better worth listening to. 
In conclusion I would congntulatc the sec- 
retary, ]Mr. Tigwell, and tl:e cluiirnian of the 
committee, Mr. F. W. Harvey, on a successful 
year and a good show. No one, I feel sure, 
will suppf)rt this sentiment of mine more 
whole-heartedly than the honored and capable 
president, Mr. Hugh Dick.son, who is one of the 
keenest sweet pea men in the world, and a fine 
representative of British horticulture, worthy 
to take his place in these pages beside ^'ilmorin 
of France and Burpee of the United States. 
(Signed) Joseph Jacob. 



From The North A mericaji, Philadelphia, Pa., May 19, 1915 

$1.39 SWEET PEA SEED GIVES OUT FINE BLOOM 

"Fiery Cross" Variety, Owned by W. Atlee Burpee, Costliest in World 



The costliest sweet pea blossom that ever 
flung to the sunlight a banner of beauty and per- 
fumed the air with its delicate fragrance, burst 
into bloom yesterday in one of the long, low glass 
houses at Fordhook Farms, W. Atlee Burpee's 
large testing grounds near Doylestown. 

On a stem nearly a foot long — in itself a sign 
of sap regal — this first "Fiery Cross"' to blossom 
in America vindicated, by its size, shape and 
flaming hue, the judgment of the well-known 
Philadelphian who last July, at the sweet pea 
show in London, paid the record price of $417 
an ounce for the first three ounces of "I^icry 
Cross" .seed ever raised. 

One good look at the display of this new 
variety, which evidenced its rare worth by win- 
ning the highest award — the silver medal offered 
by the National Sweet Pea Society of England — 
convinced Mr. Burpee there was no use haggling 
over a price. So he hunted up A. Malcolm, the 
noted Scotch grower of these lovely flowers, who 
after many years of trying finally produced the 
flaming scarlet hue which characterizes this 
latest wonder in the flower world. 

"How much seed have you.^" asked Burpee. 

"Three oimces," answered INIalcolm. 

"Will you take 2.50 pounds sterling for three 
ounces and the right to introduce.''" 

"I will," said the Scotchman. 



Now, three ounces of sweet pea seed contain 
about 900 seeds. So for each of the shri^•eled 
peas which were packed for shipment with as 
much care as a pearl necklace, the tidy sum of 
$1.39 was paid. And if the ship which carried 
these seed-treasures across the Atlantic had 
gone down, the world's supply of this particular 
variety woidd ha\-e been lost. 

It goes without saying that the folks at Ford- 
hook, from owner down, have been watching the 
"Fiery Cross" test plants in eager anticipation 
of the day when the first blossoms would appear. 
Every care known to the experts who look after 
the 180 varieties of sweet peas there tested each 
year was bestowed on the four vines which had 
sprouted out of four $1.39 seeds. 

Day before yesterday one bud was beginning 
to show a tinge of color, and if the sim had not 
been veiled in gray all day, this firstborn of the 
new flower would have been a Sunday child — 
"bonnie and bright and good and gay." But 
there was no sun at all — as every one knows — 
so the premiere was postponed. 

But the "Fiery Cross" that made its bow 
yesterday was just as bonnie and bright and gay 
as if it had come along on Sunday, and if all 
goes well, many a garden in this and other lands 
next Summer will be more beautiful because of 
it — not at $1.39 per seed, however. 



[78] 



Forty Years of Burpee Service — -Anniversary Supplement 

Burpee's Sweet Peas 

Prize Winners wherever exhibited 



At the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San 

From Florists' Exchange, New 

AV. Atlee Burpee & Co., of Pliiladelpliia, Pa., 
were awarded the silver medal presented by the 
British National Sweet Pea Society for their 
splendid display, covering 100 sq. ft. The 
center ]>ortion of the exhibit was entirely given 
over to Messrs. Burpee & Co.'s magnitii'ent 
novelty Fiery Cross, which attracted a tremen- 
dous amount of attention all day on account of 
its brilliant color. The jury of the Panama- 
Pacific International Exposition recommended 



Francisco, Cal., June 11 to 13, 1915 

York, N. Y., July .■?, 1015 

that a gold medal be awarded for the exhibit. 
The collection inchuled about fifty of Messrs. 
Burpee & Co.s leading novelties and especially 
fine vases of Margaret Atlee, Thomas Stevenson, 
Helen Grosvenor. King Manuel, Stirling Stent, 
and King Edward Spencer. Messrs. Burpee & 
Co. are to be congratulated on the spirit they 
showed in arranging for this exhibition at so 
great a distance from Philadelphia. An award 
of merit was vote<l for Fiery Cross. 



Burpee's Sweet Peas 

Gold Medal and Silver Cup at the Newport Show, American Sweet Pea 
Society, July 15 and 16, 1915 

From Florists' Exchange, New 

The largest trade display was that of W. Atlee 
|}ur])ee & Co., Philadelphia, who staged upward 
ijf 100 varieties on a table running the length of 
the hall, occupying 200 sq. ft. The Howers had 
been grown locally, and were of the highest 
possible quality, on long stems, three and four 
to a stem, bright, clear, clean and of good sub- 
stance. In this group, wliicli won the society's 
silver cup and the gold metlal offered by the 
British National Sweet Pea Society for the 
largest and most meritorious exhibit, there were 
three novelties, Fiery Cross, winner of the A. S. 



York, N. Y., July 'n, 1!)15 

P. S. silver medal of the year; President, a 
good scarlet, and Cherub, which we have de- 
scribed as an improved Mrs. C. W. Breadmore. 
The stand was arranged by (ieo. W. Kerr and 
was the center of attraction during the two days. 
It included, besides those mentioned, especially 
fine vases of Irish Belle, Illuminator, King White, 
Charles Foster, Robert Sydenham, Royal Pur- 
ple, Primrose Spencer, New Vermilion Flake, 
Mrs. Routzahn Spencer, Lavender, George Her- 
bert, Margaret Atlee, Afterglow, Duplex Unique 
and Kini: Edward Sjx'nccr. 




Part of the gold medal and silver cup exhibit of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadelphia 

[791 




40iANNIVERSARY 



Burpee's Annual 

offers the experience of our Forty Years of extensive operation 
and intensive investigation. 

It tells the plain truth about Seeds that Grow, and is of inesti- 
mable value to all who plant either for pleasure or profit. 

If you have misplaced your copy or wish one for a friend or neighbor, 

write us to-day. We will gladly send free, to any address. The 

Leading American Seed Catalog. 

W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 

Seed Growers 
Burpee Buildings Philadelphia 



Copyright, 1915, by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Philadelphia 



THE BURPEE BUSINESS IS BUILDED 

NOT FOR THE PRESENT ONLY BUT 

WITH AN OUTLOOK TO THE 

FUTURE 

A BUSINESS THAT HAS NO VISION OF 

THE FUTURE OR THE OBJECT OF 

WHICH IS MERE MONEY-MAKING 

WOULD NOT BE WORTHY 

A LIFE'S WORK 

W. ATLEE BURPEE 






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